White Fox, Black Order
by Silver Writing Bug
Summary: Sasuke and Naruto rip a hole through space that sends them tumbling into the world of D. Gray Man. Time has turned back the clock for these two, as well as erasing their memories. Watch out world, Naruto's two beloved characters have come!
1. Prologue

**This is a challenge from DragonLord577. Basically a D. Gray Man Naruto crossover. If you look for DragonLord, you'll see the challenge I mean. **

_Chirp. Chirp, chirp. Chirp_

_One thousand birds, eh? _Naruto thought internally, smiling sadly through his sharpened fangs. _Chidori. _

Sasuke looked up at him, red eyes twisting and spinning madly, and smirked. "_SHOW ME YOUR POWER!" _The crazed boy screamed.

"You've fallen far, Sasuke." The blonde murmured, chakra ears waving quietly, fire gently licking the golden-blue rasengan he was forming. Red slowly bled into the pure mass of spinning chakra, giving it a more potent feel. The rasengan, the Yondaime's proudest work, rested in his palm like a weight, filled with golden fire, Kyuubi chakra and his own blue chakra. Naruto admired it, and Sasuke let him do so. Then his head snapped up, and Sasuke knew what was going to happen.

They lunged simultaneously, palms outstretched with the techniques they'd been battling each other with for as long as they'd known each other. _Rasengan, spinning, graceful, silent and deadly. Chidori, crackling with energy, powerful, loud and intimidating. _

The techniques met, and the two responded by pushing forward, trying to gain leverage against the enemy. They struggled, two seventeen-year-olds locked in a battle to the death. For a moment, onyx met blue, and onyx noted the coldness they'd never seen before. And Sasuke knew, that this time Naruto would _not _aim for his headband; Naruto would be aiming to kill, not because of him—but because of the things he'd done.

An enormous, giant navy light erupted from the two techniques, and any smart ninja would've pulled away, or ran away. The two wielding the chakra-weapons, however, ignored it, so focused on defeating each other.

The last thing Naruto remembered from this world—or even, the last thing Naruto saw of his own world for a very long time was a thousand silvery-white birds preparing to take flight.

* * *

><p>"My, you two <em>have <em>been causing trouble…" A cheerful voice said, and laughed a pleasant, sweet laugh that sent shivers running up Naruto's spine. "Now, what to do with you…?"

Naruto tried to move, tried to twist and see who was talking, but was quite surprised to find he couldn't move. Panicking, he opened his eyes only to encounter a deep blackness, the darkest black he'd ever encountered. He knew he should've been terrified, but to his surprise he was vaguely comforted by it.

"I can't send you back, no…perhaps…yes, I think that'll do! Maybe I'll let you return home, someday. _Maybe._"

* * *

><p>Allen walked along, a cheerful bounce in his step as he held the loaf of bread close to his chest. He was so happy today! Mana had given him a pair of gloves to wear and a long shirt, so no one could see his ugly, deformed arm; he'd actually gone <em>shopping <em>today, and no one had yelled at him, or called him a freak or anything!

Waving at the random passerby's, he beamed into the bread. This was probably the best day of his entire life! He had a father, he had good food, he had a home, and he had his gloves! Who could ask for anything more?

Even if Allen didn't ask for anything more, he got it.

A giant flash of navy light erupted from an alleyway, shocking Allen and making him land on his backside. The light disappeared as soon as it appeared, leaving Allen wondering if it had ever been there in the first place. Shrugging, he got back to his feet, (not noticing that no one else had seen the light and a few people were giving him odd looks) and hurried over to the alley to see if anything was actually there. What he saw shocked him.

A small blonde boy rested against wall, hair already beginning to droop in the rain, though it was obvious he hadn't been there long. Three whisker-like marks adorned the boy's two pale, thin cheeks. His white shirt had an orange spiral on it, which had been dry, but was quickly becoming soaked. The blue pants he wore had more patches and holes than the original cloth. He wore no shoes.

Allen looked up and down the alley, trying to see who might've dropped him off. Shrugging, he shook the boy quietly, trying to get him to wake up. The boy let out a moan, and shifted slightly. Smiling, Allen said softly, "Please wake up. It's not safe to sleep in the rain."

The boy's eyes fluttered open, displaying two bright blue eyes, which were currently dulled by sleep and discomfort from the rain. His mouth opened slightly, letting out a soft, "Wha…?"

Allen knelt down and grabbed the boy's arm, trying to lift him from his sitting position against the wall. While he was lighter than he appeared, Allen still couldn't quite lift him. "Please get up, I can't carry you." Allen whispered to the boy, shaking his shoulder again.

"Nnn…" The boy moaned.

"_Not helping!" _Allen growled, a bit of his old personality showing through.

"What's this…?" A low voice asked from behind, and Allen jumped and looked up, a grin slowly splitting his face. "Mana!" He cried, leaping up and hugging his adopted-father's leg.

Mana chuckled, patting Allen's brown head, before turning his attention to the little boy lying against the wall. "What did you find, Allen? Who's this?"

Allen giggled, feeling his spirits getting lifted just by the appearance of this father. "I was a-walking down the street with the bread, and there was this flash 'a blue light! I followed it here, but he's not waking up."

Mana knelt down the touched the boy's forehead, and noted that he couldn't be much older or younger than Allen. The boy's head was clammy, and his face was pale and thin, but it was obvious that he hadn't been there for more than a few minutes. Sighing, he gently gathered the surprisingly light boy into his arms and gestured for Allen to follow, which he immediately obeyed, following his father almost like an obedient puppy dog.

The streets were clearer, more people going inside to take shelter from the rain, and for that Allen was happy. He still didn't like big crowds.

As they approached the circus they were currently working for, the little boy stirred in Mana's arms, and panicked as he felt himself being moved and carried. Then he relaxed and just looked up into Mana's face curiously. "Kon-Konichiwa." He murmured shyly. Mana blinked in surprise; what was a little Japanese boy doing in London?

"Watashi wa..." The boy began, and started to look confused. "Ah…"

Mana pointed to himself, knowing the boy probably wouldn't understand English. "Mana." Trying to remember the word for 'English' in Japanese, he took a stab at it. "Igirisu?"

The boy's face slowly brightened in understanding. "English!" He said in a heavily accented voice. "He…llo! I am…I…am…" The boy got the confused look on his face again, almost panicked. "I don't…know." Though it was garbled and the message was wrong, Mana understood; he didn't remember his name.

Mana nodded. "Why don't you choose a new name?"

The boy was confused, and tilted his head in frustration as he searched through the meager English he did know. Mana elaborated. "Pick, choose name. You pick name." He said slowly, and this time the boy understood. His face crinkled, and his eyes narrowed in concentration. Finally, he smiled and said, "Kitsune!"

Mana nodded. "Fox." He translated.

Kitsune tried out the word. "Fox…Mana. Otou-san?"

Allen stared at the two in confusion, wondering what he was missing.

* * *

><p>Komui Lee sighed and rubbed his eyes, glaring at the paperwork. Oh, it was the bane of his existence, that paperwork. Oh well. No sense in putting it off, or the higher-ups would be really pissed with him later. Besides, when he was done he could see his adorable little Lenalee! Picking up his pen and writing furiously, he had only finished the first four pages when a man burst into his office (shocking him and making his pen swerve) and shouted, "Mr. Lee, sir! A child just showed up outside the doors—in a flash of blue light!"<p>

Komui leapt up, happy for the distraction, and snagged his coffee in one hand before following the man to see exactly what had happened. As they approached the doors, Lenalee (so cute!) ran up to him, her short pigtails bouncing and chirped, "He's awake, brother! About my age! He's Japanese, so I got Kanda to talk to him!"

Komui nodded, smiling widely at his little sister. "Good work, Lenalee!"

As they approached, Kanda looked up from the boy sitting stiffly on the floor, and slowly rose to his feet. "He's got memory loss." Kanda snorted. "Said he'd call himself Hebi—snake." Kanda rolled his eyes, obviously annoyed with having to translate for a bunch of idiots.

Hebi looked up when his name was said, looking confused and weary. He had to admit, Komui knew the kid would be a looker when he got older.

"Is he compatible?" He asked, taking a step closer to Lenalee (just to make sure Hebi knew not to get involved with his _adorable _little sister). One of the finders nodded. "It's on his neck, though it looks real strange. I don't think it's normal."

Komui's eye twinkled in excitement. Maybe…just maybe, they'd found the heart.

**So...here it is. First time ever doing a crossover, so I'm a little nervous! Hope you guys like it!**

**Silver Writing Bug**


	2. Chapter 1

**I don't Naruto or D. Gray man. There.**

"…"

"…"

"'Let me lead' you said."

"…"

"'I'll get us there in no time' you said."

"…"

"'Oh, _no _we're not lost, this is just a short cut, Kitsune!' you said."

"…"

"Well?"

"…I'm sorry."

"I'm _never _letting you lead. Ever again."

"Thanks."

"How could I be so stupid? Why do I keep forgetting?"

"…Please shut up."

"…"

"Forgive me, please?"

"…Fine."

"…"

"…"

"AHHHHH! K-Kitsune! A cat just ate Tim!"

"N-N-NANI?"

* * *

><p>The wind whistled and howled, shaking the trees and battering pedestrians, causing those who weren't already inside to hurry to a nearby shop or house. The cobblestone streets were littered with swirling leaves, which danced around the feet of a young girl police officer, standing in front of a broken down church. Her hair was tossed in the gust, as her sharp eyes watched the church before sighing and turning to a lamppost behind her.<p>

"C'mon, Charles!" She shouted, addressing the shivering policeman hiding behind the pole.

"H-Haven't you heard, Moe? This church is haunted!" Charles whimpered, hunkering down a little more.

"Pah! I can't believe I'm hearing this from a police officer." Moe shook her head. "It's probably just some horrible rumor. We need to clear it up before it can cause any more damage."

"Okay, I guess…" Charles said finally, rising from his hiding place to go join his partner, who was quickly putting her long blonde hair into her police hat.

The church itself was unremarkable, Moe thought, glancing around at the crumbling stone as they walked through the halls. Ghost stories had never bothered her, and they wouldn't now. _This church isn't haunted. _She thought firmly to herself. _And I'll prove it._ _Besides, Clare would never… _"AH!"

Moe practically jumped out of her skin and twisted around. "Charles!"

Purring at the feet of the terrified man was a small, white and brown cat.

"Oh, it's just a cat." Moe murmured, gently pulling it up into her lap. "A really fat one, too."

Suddenly, there was the sound of screeching and flapping reverberating off the walls, and down at the end of the corridor they could see a flock of big, black bats heading for them.

Charles covered his head and backed away, while Moe watched fascinated from her position on the floor, still clutching the cat. She was quite shocked when a blood red hand with a fingerless glove reached out for her, and she tried to escape the grip, but was too slow. She let out a soft cry as she was carried away from Charles, clutched in a blood-red grip. Oh dear, would she be the next victim?

* * *

><p>"Moe, are you al—Moe?" Charles blinked in surprise when he saw that his partner had disappeared. "MOE!"<p>

"Oh please, stop shouting!" The policeman jumped five feet in the air, before turning and seeing a strange blonde-haired boy with a black bandanna covering his head moving quickly towards him. "By the way, have you seen a big creepy bunch of bats anywhere?"

Charles nodded slowly, still shocked.

"Did you see where they went? My brother gets lost at the drop of a hat, I swear, and this place is practically a maze!" The boy sneezed, and rubbed his nose, still staring at Charles. "By the way, did you see a cat anywhere?"

Charles nodded, before finding his voice. "I…I don't know where they went, but I did see a cat."

"Oh. I see. Got to go find my brother, now. Sayonara!"

"Wait!" Charles cried, grabbing the boy's arm. "My partner…disappeared."

The boy blinked in surprise before grinning. "Hey! How 'bout you help me find my brother, and I'll help you find your partner!"

Charles nodded, and quickly followed the strange blonde deeper into the church.

* * *

><p>"Gotcha!" Moe heard as she sat slumped in a chair, holding the cat close and trying to look unconscious. "Wait, a person? What're you doing here…"<p>

Moe very quickly removed her handcuffs and snapped a cuff around the boy's wrist, straightening her hat in annoyance. "Why, you! Who are you?"

"I'm sorry! I was just trying to catch the cat, I didn't realize…" The strange child raised his hands up. "Look, I was just trying to catch the cat. I'm just a traveler…" That was when she caught sight of the strange looking kid. He wore a long coat and a while bandanna, with two fingerless gloves. He had white hair and beautiful silver-gray eyes, and was extremely pale. Perhaps the strangest thing about him, though, was the long scar on his eye and the blood-red hand.

Five minutes later, the kid was tied awkwardly to the chair. "Oh, we had no idea this town was haunted… While I was walking past here, this cat ate one of our valuable possessions! We kind of went after it." At her incredulous expression he started to panic. "No really! It was our master's so we couldn't afford to lose it!"

Moe rolled her eyes. "Oh, yeah? And just where is this master of yours?"

"Um, I think he disappeared somewhere in India…" The boy muttered, looking down, before turning to the cat angrily. "This is all your fault!"

Moe felt something nagging at the back of her head, like something was wrong but she couldn't quite tell what it was…Finally, she found it. "Wait, who's this 'we'?"

"Oh, I travel with my brother, Kitsune! He was following me just a few minutes ago…" The kid said softly, furrowing his silver eyebrows.

"Hm. Well, I need to go find my partner and your brother, so you stay there!" Moe commanded, pointing a finger at the kid. "Wait. What does your brother look like?"

"He's got blonde hair, real bright—wait, he has a bandanna over that…and he's got these really blue eyes and these funky whisker marks on his cheeks! He's about an inch taller than I am, and he's wearing a dark orange coat."

"Okay." Moe nodded, turning away and going to go look for her partner—and his brother.

_Rat-a-tat! Ra-tat-tat-tat-a-tat!_

Moe's eyes widened when she heard the telltale sound of a high powered gun, and another sound of an explosion. She gasped, "What's happening?" Before running out the door, her gun in one hand. "Stay there!" Moe shouted.

"Run, you idiot!" Someone shouted, which made Moe hurry quicker towards the commotion.

What she came upon shocked her to the core.

There was a blonde boy with a bandanna on his head, holding some sort of shield in front of him, her partner Charles quivering behind him. The voice—she now assumed it was the child, shouted again. "What are you still doing here? I can't hold him off for long! _GO!"_

Charles finally reacted, spinning and lunging for the stairs where Moe was. He only increased his speed when he noticed his blonde-haired partner. "Moe!"

That's when the white haired kid appeared from the top of the stairs, quickly jumping over the railing and joining the blonde—now Moe assumed he was Kitsune, and chased after whatever had been shooting at them.

Kitsune deactivated his shield and sighed, putting the small black box that had been producing the defense into his coat pocket. Then, he turned and addressed the two shivering police officers. "Don't you guys worry 'bout a thing, Allen'll take care of it." He chuckled and asked, "Say, where's that cat? We kind of need Tim back."

"Tim?" Moe asked stupidly.

"He's our golem. Well, he's our master's golem, but master sort of gave Tim to us, so…" Kitsune shrugged.

"The cat's up there…" Moe nodded towards the top of the stairs, still slightly shocked. "Why…Who was shooting at Charles?"

Charles shivered, drawing his coat tighter around his shoulders.

"Oh, that was an akuma. Allen takes care of those sorts of things." Kitsune scratched the back of his head sheepishly. "I can't."

Charles opened his mouth to reply when there was that noise again—the awful _rat-tat-tat-tat _of the big gun that'd been shooting at Charles, and the big man froze. He opened his mouth in surprise, before his body was covered with strange pentacle and he evaporated into dust. Kitsune cursed and activated his shield, throwing himself in front of Moe before she could get killed too.

A smoke began oozing from the dust, and Kitsune put his bandanna over his face as Allen jogged over to them. "Sorry, Kitsune, he got—" The white-haired boy froze when he spotted the clothes on the floor and sighed. "I was too late, huh." It wasn't really a question.

"You can't save everyone." Kitsune murmured.

That's when Moe realized it was getting hard to breath, and she gasped and tried to pull more air into her lungs. The two brothers noticed, and Allen took his bandanna off and pressed it to her nose and mouth. "The gas from the corpse is toxic. Be careful." Then he turned to Kitsune. "Don't worry, I'll get the akuma next time."

As Moe fell backwards in her head, into the darkness, she was slightly confused. _An akuma…?_

* * *

><p>"Oh, Moe! You're awake!" A cheerful voice called as Moe glanced around the room uncomprehendingly.<p>

"Where am I?" She muttered, putting a hand to her head as the man grabbed her arm and began dragging her along.

"The station! Perfect timing." Rapping the door, the man called, "Detective! Officer Hesse is awake!"

There was a gruff, "Come in."

"Oh, that's right! Charles…"

"We know. We're questioning the suspect right now."

Moe blinked when she spotted the 'suspect'.

It was Allen, hands cuffed in front of him, cat lounging lazily in his arms. His bandanna was gone, displaying his gleaming white hair to the world, and he was grinning in bemusement, as though he couldn't quite comprehend that he was sitting in a station being questioned as a suspect for a murder. Honestly Moe was a little shocked, too.

"Name's Allen Walker." The detective began. "No address. Nationality unknown. _And _he's a minor. Then, the pudgy man slammed his hands down onto the table. "We know you did it!"

"I said I didn't do it!" Allen squeaked, flailing in his handcuffs. "Why am I being interrogated? All I did was bring an officer to the station!"

"You were at the church! That makes you a suspect!" The detective roared, spitting saliva everywhere.

That's when Moe remembered the other boy—hadn't Allen had a brother, Kitsune? "What about—" Her mouth snapped shut when Allen gave her a _look _and shook his head.

The detective ignored her and continued, grabbing Allen's blood red hand. "Besides, look at your hand! It's red with blood!"

"No, it's always been that way…" Allen protested, trying to tug his hand back.

The glove fell off.

"Holy—" The detective recoiled, staring in horror at the cross that'd been imbedded into the child's hand. Moe's eyes widened surprise, blinking at the strange appearance of his deformed arm. It was absolutely _hideous, _red and covered in strange, bulging veins. "What the—blech! Aren't you in pain from putting a cross on your hand? We've got a lunatic in our midst!" Allen was staring at the detective with a resigned look, as though this had occurred many times and he was deciding to stop complaining about it. "You shout take better care of the body your parents have given you!"

Moe decided she couldn't just _stand _for this anymore, since she knew the boy was innocent. "Excuse me!" The detective looked back (read: glared) at her. "I was with him until the incident occurred."

"What?" The detective jumped, obviously displeased with having his number one suspect taken away from him.

"Sir, there was evidence of a high-caliber weapon found at the scene. This boy only has a cat." Another officer said, coming up behind the detective. "We have yet to find the weapon that may've been used."

The detective looked like he was contemplating this information, gritting and grinding his teeth angrily as his pudgy face slowly reddened. "Why did you have to faint, officer Moe Hesse!"

Moe dropped her eyes to the ground. "Sorry, sir."

That was when Allen opened his mouth to speak, before blinking slightly and shutting his mouth again, and repeating the process.

"Unbelievable! You should've stayed awake no matter what! I can't believe that you didn't see the suspect even though you were at the crime scene!"

Allen opened his mouth again, looked down, then slumped in his chair and sighed. Moe was a little confused. What on earth was wrong with the boy?

**Okay, second chapter! Long…Anyway, as you can see, it's the introduction of Allen! Soon, you'll have your introduction of "Kitsune" Naruto. **

**The reason Kitsune doesn't use his innocence is because he doesn't know he has one. This will be explained later. **

**Thank you ddcj1990 and DragonLord577 for reviewing first! **

**Ddcj1990: I can't have Allen paired with Lena-chan, because in the challenge it stated that Allen was with Lenalee. **

**Thank you again!**

**Silver Writing Bug**


	3. Chapter 2

**I haven't updated in a while, but here's the next chapter. **

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or D. Gray man. Actually, I technically don't own the idea for this story. **

"Dammit, Allen…" Kitsune muttered, pushing his box-turned-telescope closer to his face, trying to get a better look at his brother. "Damn you and your nice-guy tendencies…"

Kitsune had just wanted to drop the police officer off on the doorstep, but _nooo, _Allen actually had to knock on the effin' door and explain what the hell happened. Kitsune, of course, had backed away, knowing that they would be considered a suspect for the murder, but _Allen _hadn't listened to him. He'd said it wasn't polite. Next thing that happened was the poor boy was dragged inside the police station, people shouting and accusing him and being _so_ annoying.

_How dare they accuse my aniki of murdering someone? _Kitsune seethed, grinding his teeth. _He's the nicest goddamn child to ever live! _

So now he was following his brother and that police-woman he'd saved, but he had absolutely no clue where they were going. _For all I know, they're preparing to execute him…_ Kitsune began to fret quietly.

Thankfully, they stopped in front of one of the houses on the street, and the police-woman—Moe, was it? Opened the door and let Allen and the cat in.

Allen, out of habit, looked around the rooftops on the street, and caught sight of Kitsune, who waved and smirked at him. The white-haired boy flipped him off, and Kistune mimicked laughing at him, before raising up a fist, a serious expression in his blue eyes. Allen nodded subtly, and Kitsune melted back into the shadows on the roof. _Just like you taught me, Master. _He thought smugly, before shivering.

They had worked out a way of silently communicating with each other, Allen and Kitsune. The raised fist either meant, 'Go', or 'I'm coming for you. Be ready.' So Kitsune prepared to rescue his stupid, loveable brother.

* * *

><p>A line of people stood in front of the church, watching with suspicious and cautious eyes, trying to get a better look.<p>

"_I heard a cop was killed…" _

"_It was a brutal murder…the rumor is true."_

"_That church is possessed…Look what happened to Pastor Mark." _

"_Huh? What are you talking about?"_

"_We really shouldn't be talking about this, but…A tragic accident befell the pastor and his wife inside that church two years ago." _

If anyone had bothered to look behind them, they would've seen a fat man with an umbrella and a giant top hat smirking to himself as he walked past. And if they would've turned around right then, they would've seen the strange man disappear.

Where he appeared, though, was inside a room, and no one was there except for a sickly man in a wheelchair, wearing a dead expression on his pale face.

"Heh-heh. Everyone is terrified." The fat man said, almost to himself. Then he addressed the sickly figure in the wheelchair. "My dear akuma. Keep killing so you can continue to evolve."

"_Brother?" _The fat man turned to look at the door behind him, still smiling a wide smile. _"I'm home, brother. How are you feeling?" _As footsteps neared the door, the fat man vanished.

Moe quickly walked inside the living room, and smiled a quiet, gentle smile at her unresponsive brother as he said, "Welcome home, Moe. You're home early today."

Then, her smile faded when she noticed the uneaten dinner on the shelf. "You still haven't eaten your dinner! You haven't been eating at all lately. You need to eat."

"I'm full." Marc said, almost mechanically. "I'm sorry. But I'll be hungry soon enough."

Moe frowned unhappily, looking at her brother with soft, sad eyes. Her brother had always been so strong and kind, and to see him like this was almost painful to her. How she wished they could go back to the days when Claire would sweep into their house, flushed and happy, with Marc clutched on one arm, and Moe would make fun of them because that's what annoying little sisters did, and March would simply laugh while Claire would blush. And then Marc would kiss Claire, because he said she was so cute when she blushed and that Moe put the idea in his head, and then Moe would tell them both to get a room.

But those times were gone.

So instead she just got down on her knees and put her hand around his, and said, "You need to take care of yourself, Marc. As your sister, I'm hoping for the same thing from heaven."

The moment was ruined by a large crash from the hallway.

"Is someone here…?" Marc asked, sounding slightly bemused when he heard loud, _"Hey, stay still! Ah!" _and, _"Don't be so loud you idiot, they'll hear us!" _

"Well, my dear brother," Moe said, twitching slightly in annoyance. "I can explain…"

"_Abandon the cat and let's get out of here!" _

Moe walked to the hallway, and frowned when she saw Allen being pulled up by Kitsune, the cat still in one arm. Her eyes traveled to the pictures on the floor, to Kitsune's annoyed expression and Allens' guilty one, and growled, "Hey! What do you think you're doing?"

Kitsune gave Allen the, it's-your-problem-not-mine-look, and Allen looked anywhere but at her. "Um, well…"

"You two were planning to go to the church, weren't you!" Moe grabbed both Allen and Kitsune's collars and dragged them inside the house.

"Just for a little bit…" Allen said, laughing nervously while Kitsune struggled angrily next to him.

"Absolutely _not!" _She shouted, depositing the two in her office.

"If you had just left the cat behind like I told you too…" Kitsune griped to Allen, who glared and responded with a surly, "He has Tim, remember?"

Moe watched the two boys and frowned, suddenly remembering what they'd called the thing that'd attacked Charles. _An aka-akuma, right…? Maybe I have something in my bookcase about this…_

The two brothers sighed and glanced out the window, both thinking the same thing: _"The church is so close…I wonder if the detective and the others are alright…" _

"Hey Allen, Kitsune…" Moe asked, frowning slightly as she examined the book she was flipping through.

The two brothers turned to look at the police-officer, an expectant look on both of their faces.

"You called the thing that attacked Charles an akuma, right?" Moe looked towards them, and when they nodded in affirmation she continued. "It says here that 'akuma' were mythical beings created as a way to explain illnesses and peoples misfortunes during ancient times."

Moe either didn't hear or ignored when Kitsune scoffed.

"They only exist on paper and in our head, not reality. I don't believe in curses and demons." She paused and chewed her lip. "I hate that kind of stuff."

"Well, I wanted to explain it at the police station…" Allen sent a glare at his brother. "But what we were talking about isn't that kind of demon."

"Hm? Why didn't you explain it at the police station?"

Kitsune rolled his eyes and sighed loudly. "At first aniki wanted to go around explaining what the akuma was to every single living person, but I managed to convince him not to at the risk of sounding completely insane. If I didn't know about akuma I'd think he was delusional. But as Allen was saying," Kitsune continued as Allen sent him a slightly miffed glance, "We're talking about a weapon from the dark side, made to stalk—I'm sorry, prey on humans."

Allen nodded. "'Akuma' is the actual name of a weapon. That's what it actually is. They normally look human, so it's quite hard to spot them, but…"

Everyone in the room jumped when the door slammed open, revealing the chair-bound Marc, twitching and trembling with something that none of the occupants of the room could name.

"Uhh…Urr…" Marc moaned, eyes rolling around in his head.

"Are you okay? Marc, what's wrong?" Moe strode across the room to her brother, placing her hands on his knees, trying to get a response from him.

"Allen, who is that?" Kitsune hissed, as Allen's eye went from grey to red.

"An akuma!" He hissed taking a step towards Moe and Marc.

"I'm…hungry…" Marc said suddenly, startling Moe. "Let me kill you!"

And then, the most horrifying and disgusting thing Moe had ever seen happened to her brother.

It was like a nightmare, molding and morphing her brother's skin, twisting his bones and rising up to create some sort of lurid ball with gun-like barrels pointing out of the side, and the only thing left of her 'brother' was the strange face with the star in the center.

"Marc…?" She whispered, still on her hands and knees in front of him. "What in the world…?"

And then things happened so quickly—Allen reached out for Moe, Kitsune suddenly had that weird shield up again, and bullets were flying in all directions—Allen had her in his arms—they were flying backwards—and—

* * *

><p>Kitsune gasped and coughed behind the shield, trying to choke up all the dust that had collected in his lungs. <em>Where is the akuma? <em>He wondered, before realizing that it'd disappeared. _Probably followed aniki and that police-lady…Moe, I think? Whatever…_ Then he sighed and deactivated the shield, slowly getting up from the floor and dusting off his arms.

"Surprised by a Level One…" He muttered. "How careless. If master was around, he'd kill me…Actually he'd kill Allen." He paused in his musings. "Or would he kill both of us…?" Shrugging, he looked around. "Now where did aniki go? Judging by the line of destruction…" Kitsune turned in a circle, examining the walls, before stopping in front of a big hole in the wall, which was adjacent to the church. The church also had a giant hole in it—big enough to fit two people "The church."

* * *

><p>"Ow…" Allen moaned, knowing that his back was going to be real sore in the morning. "Are you hurt, Moe?"<p>

She blinked quietly, slightly dazed. "Yeah… Where are we?"

"At the church…The impact sent us flying…" Allen let out another moan. "I wonder if Kitsune is okay…"

After Moe was able to regain her bearings, she blinked slowly and stared at the strange looking bullet in Allen's right hand. "No way…" She breathed. "You caught the bullet?"

"Don't touch it." He said, jerking the bullet away from her hand. "It's a blood bullet from the akuma. The bullet transforms itself into a firearm and shoots them. The moment this bullet hits you, the virus spreads through your body…" That's when Moe noticed the cat, who just moments before had been perfectly fine. Now, though, it was covered in strange black pentacles, blood oozing from beneath Allen's fingers. "And your body crumbles into pieces." Almost as if on cue, the cat turned entirely black and the form dissolved in front of her eyes. "Dang it…I'm sorry I couldn't save you, kitty."

"What happened to my brother Marc?"

* * *

><p>Kitsune frowned as he sat on the half-destroyed couch, watching the church with a critical eye. On one hand, if he didn't go and help his brother, there was the off chance that Allen would be really, really mad at him. On the other hand, if he did go, it was a possibility that he'd half to go and baby-sit the innocent bystanders, which was a less than desirable job.<p>

"Decisions, decisions…" He murmured, stroking his chin. Baby-sitting wasn't so bad, he supposed, as long as he saved lives…Besides, Allen was scary when he was angry.

So he leisurely stuffed his hands into his pockets, taking his sweet time as he jumped out of the hole in the wall. Allen would be fine for a little bit…after all, he was 'Mr. Hero'.

That's when he noticed the figure on top of the lamp post, all fat and round and pudgy, an umbrella over one shoulder. _Is that…? _"EARL!" Kitsune shouted, and the figure slowly turned his smiling face to look at the blonde.

"You don't belong here…who are you?" The Earl asked slowly, watching the boy with narrowed eyes.

The Earl had felt it ever since he'd stepped into that akuma's house; the feeling that something was wrong, the feeling that all was not as it should be. There was a disturbance in this world that wasn't meant to happen; something was shaking the very foundations of the future, and time was literally rewriting itself. And now, he'd found it.

"I'm Kitsune." He growled, the small box appearing in his hand. Slowly, the box transformed into some sort of sword. "And I'm going to…" He was cut off by the sound of screaming, and loud bullet noises. "Moe! Aniki!" He gasped, concentration interrupted. For a moment he looked torn; attack the Earl or go after his brother…? His sense of loyalty one. "I'll deal with you later." Kitsune snarled, before running towards the church.

The Earl stared after the boy for a moment, head tilted with curiosity. "Interesting…" He said, before laughing and disappearing.

* * *

><p>When Kitsune arrived, he took one look at Allen (who had his innocence activated), Moe (who was crying) and the police clothes on the floor, before letting out a loud sigh and throwing up his hands. "What the hell did you need me for?"<p>

He smiled slightly when Tim wiggled out from under Allen's coat and began circling around his head. "Ah, well…C'mon, Allen! It's time to go."

Allen nodded to Moe, who nodded back. Then, he stepped over the rubble, and followed his brother into the night.

* * *

><p>Omake<p>

"Maaaaaana!"

The older man turned to look at Kitsune, who was dragging Allen along excitedly.

"What is it, Kitsune?"

"Allen-chan be going to tsuma!" He chirped happily, depositing a confused Allen at his feet.

It took a moment for Mana to decipher the garbled language, before looking back and forth between the two boys. "Allen is going to be your wife?"

Kitsune smiled and nodded vigorously. "Allen-chan pretty girl!"

Allen looked highly offended. "I'm not a—"

"Hush." Kitsune said. "Tsuma don't back-talk to Otto."

Mana had to try really, really hard to keep from laughing. "Kitsune, Allen-_kun," _Mana emphasized the 'kun', "Is a boy."

Kitsune stared at Mana, brows furrowed in confusion, before looking back at Allen. Finally he said, "Uh-uh! Allen pretty to be boy!"

"Allen's a boy." Mana said bluntly, though on the inside he was laughing at his older son's suspense.

"No! Allen girl!"

"Boy."

"Girl!"

"Boy."

"Allen! Strip!"

"Eeeeee!" Was all Allen could say as Kitsune suddenly reached out and quickly pulled off all his brother's clothes.

There was a long silence before Kitsune handed Allen back his clothes and told Mana in a serious, solemn voice, "Allen boy."

**That omake was very random. **

**Anyway, so the story progresses. **

**Not much else to say, except for that I really didn't want to do the whole flash-back Marc's not a killer akuma thing. And I wanted a meeting between Kitsune and the Earl. **

**Thanks for reviewing, all of you! **

**kenegi: ...AH! One of the easiest words in the English dictionary and I misspelled it. Thanks for mentioning it to me. **

**Edit: And I have suddenly decided I need a beta.**

**Silver Writing Bug**


	4. Chapter 3

**One after another. I'm really on a roll!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything, just the storyline.**

"_Allen…" _

_The boy blinked, and behind him Kitsune froze, ready to defend himself if things went flying. _

"_Yes, master?" Allen asked hesitantly, fear evident in his big gray eyes. _

"_It's been three years since you became my apprentice…It's about time you held your own." There was a dramatic pause. "From this day forth I permit you to formally call yourself an exorcist." _

_Kitsune relaxed, smiling now that he knew there wasn't going to be any of master's punishment, but didn't dare congratulate his brother until Cross was far, far away. _

"_Really?" The boy—now too excited to be terrified—said, making Cross smirk inwardly. Ah, this was going to be so much fun…_

_Cross withdrew a hammer from nowhere, advancing eerily on his student. "Kitsune, you know where headquarters is, right?"_

_Kitsune jumped, startled at being directly addressed. "Uh—y-yes!" _

"_I'll leave my golem behind to accompany you." Timcampy fluttered out from behind Cross and began to float around Allen and Kitsune's heads. _

"_I'll make sure to send a letter of recommendation to Komui, the head officer, on your behalf. Get going as soon as you wake up." _

_At this point Allen was backing as far away from Cross as he could, an incredulous expression on his face. Kitsune didn't dare step in. "You can't be thinking of leaving me behind Master?" _

_The last thing Cross said to Allen before his head connected with the mallet was, "I hate that place." _

_What Allen didn't see afterwards was Cross turning on Kitsune, who stiffened and pleaded, "I swear I won't go after you!" _

_Cross nodded, and turned away. "Keep practicing your martial arts. And Kitsune?" _

"_Eep!" _

"_If Allen doesn't reach the Black Order, it'll be your fault."_

Both boys woke simultaneously, panting and gasping for breath, Allen clutching his heart and Kitsune curled up around himself.

_It was just a dream… _Allen thought, trying to chase away the remnants of the nightmare. _I still remember it…_

The too-friendly clown who'd been traveling with them poked his head out from behind the curtain, and looked between the shivering duo. "Are you two alright? You were moaning in your sleep."

Kitsune was about to respond with a scathing, nasty comment when someone cried out, "AKUMA! It's an akuma! It's going to kill us all!"

The blonde groaned and pushed his head into his knees as the clown asked, "W-What?"

"Thanks for the ride!" Allen called, jumping out of the still moving cart and running towards where the shout came from.

Just sitting for a minute, Allen's brother began mumbling, _"My stupid brother and his stupid heroics saving stupid people who probably deserve their stupid fates…" _

The clown pressed a hesitant hand to his mouth, before asking, "Are you going to go after him?"

Kitsune sighed, before grabbing his suitcase and jumping off the cart, slowly ambling after his brother—and quickly hastened his pace when he heard a loud, _"EEEEEEEEEEEEK!" _

And started laughing loudly when he spotted Allen on the ground, an excited hyper-active kid on top of him.

* * *

><p>"Are you an exorcist too?" The kid asked Kitsune as they walked—or in the kid's case rolled—down the street.<p>

Kitsune just looked very depressed, while Allen explained, "He doesn't like to be reminded that he doesn't have an innocence."

"Oh. My dad's a scientist at the new world alliance." The kid said cheerfully, completely disregarding the innocence-less brother in favor of talking to Allen (which served as another ego-crusher for Kitsune). "But he's never home because of work. I found out about the akuma when I read my dad's research materials out of boredom!" Allen nodded absentmindedly, while thinking, _Those are some strange shoes…_ "My dream is to become a great scientist and to someday invent a weapon that would destroy all akuma instantly!"

There was a long, comfortable silence, before… "By the way…"

"Hm?" Allen turned to look at the kid.

"I didn't know scrawny looking guys could be exorcists. I've always imagined exorcists to be muscle men…" Kitsune couldn't help but snicker as Allen drooped at being called 'scrawny'. _Why is everyone always laughing at my expense…? _Allen whined inwardly. _Curse you Kitsune, Mana! Wait, no strike that. Curse Kitsune and Cross. _"But you're the opposite. How many akuma have you destroyed? How did you get a hold of that anti-akuma weapon? How did you feel when you the first time you destroyed an akuma?"

Kitsune gave Allen a discreet, worried look as the exorcist smiled sadly, obviously remembering the first time he _had _destroyed an akuma. "John…" The blonde looked away from Allen, knowing what was coming. "It's better…if you don't let your curiosity go any further. Even about the akuma just now…stop doing anything that would get the Earl's attention. It's dangerous."

The group stopped, Kitsune still facing ahead, John looking up at Allen with an annoyed expression on his face, and Allen himself smiling bitterly, looking as though he was remembering something he'd rather forget.

"You can have it." John said suddenly, tossing some sort of onion-thing to Allen.

"Allen, don't—"

"An onion?" Was all Allen could get out before the strange contraption exploded in his face.

Both Kitsune and Allen were caught in the smoke, as Kitsune had tried to stop Allen from catching the thing. Their eye began stinging and overflowing with tears, which made John smirk widely. "Heh-heh! It's my invention…the onion bomb!" John turned to skate away from the pair, though he was addressing Allen. "I'm not going to sit back and let the akuma invade us! Dangerous my butt! Don't treat me like a little kid, scrawny!"

"Damn you, you rotten kid!" Kitsune roared as he tried to rub the tears away. "Get back here and I'll show you what makes it so dangerous!"

"Kitsune…" Allen said admonishingly, even as he wiped the tears out of his own eyes. "Don't swear at a little kid!"

"That's not a little kid, that's the devil incarnate!" The blonde growled, nearly punching himself in the eye. "Okay. Where to now?"

"We need to get another wagon." Allen said, looking slightly troubled. "Hey, Kitsune…can you go find it for me? I'm going to try and talk to John."

"What? You want to try and reason with that monster?" Allen gave his brother a less than complimenting look. "Fine, fine." He muttered, stalking away. "Suit yourself."

"He's in a mood." Turning away from the seething Kit , Allen rolled his eyes and walked down the street. "Now where did he live again…?"

* * *

><p>"Gah, stupid Allen and his stupid heroic-ness…" Kitsune growled, still boiling with anger. "That kid doesn't deserve my brother's help! ARGH!" His eyes fluttered to the back of his head again.<p>

Suddenly, he realized that he was lost. How long had he been walking anyway? From the position of the sun—a few hours. He'd been ranting for _that long?_

"Ah—DAMMIT! I'm turning into Allen!" The blonde shrieked, looking around. He was standing in front of a graveyard, and inside was—

"Well I'll be." Kitsune muttered, blinking in shock. "Yo! Alleeeeeeeen!"

Allen, the Earl, and John all turned towards Kitsune, obviously surprised at seeing the brother there. Allen raised his hand up in a silent greeting, while the Earl just gave him that eerily piercing look. _What did he say about me? That I didn't belong here or some bull like that? _

Allen had his innocence activated, so that meant that there was an akuma somewhere. Or he was just attacking the Earl, which was a possibility too. _Wait…_ At first Kitsune hadn't noticed him, but now he saw a strange boy about the same age as John. _I'll bet that's the akuma. _

"You're late, Kit." Allen shouted, not taking his attention off of his enemy.

"You're fighting the akuma without me." Kitsune responded, smirking.

Just as Allen was about to reply, John shouted, "There's no akuma here!"

"It's the kid over there, what's-his-face." Allen sent Kitsune a glare for being so insensitive. "What? Fine, fine. Allen, just kill the akuma and get it over with. We have a schedule."

"Cross…" Allen began (though first he'd sent Kit an irritable look), quickly rushing the akuma. "Destroy the akuma! Bring salvation to his soul!" As Allen got closer to the akuma, he realized the machine was doing nothing to protect himself—just standing there and smirking, as though it knew something Allen didn't—but that was absurd, there was no way the akuma could escape now—

Yes, yes there was a way the akuma could escape; Allen recoiled his claw just in time to stop it from burying deep into John's chest as he protected his 'friend'. There was an almost an apologetic look on the younger boy's face when Allen murmured, "John…"

"Wh…Why? What makes you think Leo is an akuma?" John shouted, his face filled with hurt and confusion, but mostly determination to protect what had once been his friend. "He's my best friend! We started the akuma patrol together. We swore we'd protect the city! There's no way he's an akuma!" As memories flashed before his eyes, memories of happy times and watching for akuma, he shouted, "Prove it!"

And froze when he heard a soft, _ch-chk, _and the feeling of something hard and round being pressed to the back of his head. "…Leo?" He whispered disbelievingly.

"John!" Allen said, and suddenly he was in front of John, protecting him from the oncoming bullets.

"ALLEN!" Kitsune shouted from the outside of the graveyard. "Stupid, stupid heroics!" He nearly screamed as he tore over the fence as though it wasn't there, and swiftly leapt in front of Allen, shield held out in front of the two of them. "Allen, Allen, aniki, are you alright? Don't you dare die, or I'll bring you back and kill you!"

John was shocked by the emotion in Kitsune's voice, so raw and sad and almost desperate; he quietly realized that these two shared more of a bond than even he could comprehend. It was much deeper than his friendship with Leo, which had already been a strong bond; there was something there, old as the Californian redwoods and just as strong, and deeper than the deepest trench in the sea.

"Don't…you dare." Allen muttered through the pain, holding his arm close, and moaning slightly when the pentacles began to spread on his face.

John's eye widened in horror as an excerpt from his father's notes began echoing in his head: _The akuma's bullets are laced with poison that destroys human flesh. Once hit, the virus spreads throughout the body and tears it apart. _

"Allen, you and your stupid heroics." Kitsune shook his head, before turning to John with a strange expression on his face—a mix between sadness and outright fury. "And you—you're even worse. You should've listened to nii-san, and look what happened. Your friend…" John jerked at the melancholy tone—hadn't he just been _scolding _him? "Is in pain. He'd want you to kill him."

The Earl stared at Kistune and blinked, as though he was still trying to figure something out. "Time is being rewritten." He said finally, narrowing his eyes. "And you're the cause. What is so special about you?"

"What do you mean?" Kitsune hissed, wrapping an arm around Allen.

He simply smiled again, and completely ignored him, turning back to the Leo-turned-akuma. "What do you think?" Everyone blinked at the sudden change in topic, except for Allen, who was still fighting the virus inside of him. "This is the physical manifestation of one's sin. You think an akuma is a mere weapon, but it is actually molded by the feelings and emotions of humans. An akuma is created by the yearning in one's heart. And that's exactly what this akuma is. It's an akuma that your friend Leo has created."

Kitsune stared at the Earl, trying to figure out his game. Why had he changed the subject? Just _what _was he planning?

That distracted John from the previous topic (which frankly had been getting under everyone's skin), and he whispered, almost in shock, "Leo…?" Even with the proof, John still was disbelieving; after all, they'd talked about this sort of thing. Wouldn't his best friend have known better?

"It's Leo's late mother…" A quiet voice said, making John turn to the origin of the voice—Allen. "Leo borrowed the Millenium Earl's power to bring his Mother's soul back into this world…thus turning her into an akuma." There was a pause, where Allen organized his thoughts, before he continued. "I can see her…I can see his mother suffering from being turned into an akuma."

"You can _see_ her?" The Earl said eerily, smiling his wide, creepy smile. "What are you trying to say, you little runt?"

"I may be human, but I carry an anti-akuma weapon inside me. I can purify the virus inside my own body." At this, Allen pressed his innocence to his heart and allowed the others in the area the grand sight of the virus receding.

And as the virus disappeared, John saw it. There was a pentacle pressed like a scar into his forehead—but that was the mark of the Earl! Impossible! "Al...Allen… What _is _that?"

"A curse…" It was so quiet you almost couldn't hear it, but definitely there. "A long time ago, we turned someone very dear to us into an akuma. Since then I've been cursed to see the soul embedded in the akuma with this eye." Kitsune looked away, obviously ashamed, still clutching Allen's shirt like a safety blanket.

"NGYAAAAH!" The Earl shouted suddenly, eyes widening in recognition. "No I remember you! We met a long time ago! Kitsune and Allen Walker—you're the boys that turned your father into an akuma!"

"_Mana walker…shall I resurrect him for you?" _

_Kitsune jerked his head and tightened his grip on Allen, while the latter just looked up at him almost lethargically. _

"Mana was so special to us…he accepted me, even though I had my deformed arm; even my own parents had abandoned me, and…the first memories Kitsune ever had was of him."

"_Al…len…Kit…How dare you…turn me into an akuma…?"_

_Allen jerked backwards; he didn't even have time to scream as his eye was sliced open, but Kitsune did; the cry was loud and hysterical, as he wrapped his arms around his older brother and begged Mana to stop…_

"_Shite kudasai, Otou-san, o teishi! Gomen'nasai! " He screamed, fear making revert to his original language. _

"_I curse you!" Mana roared as he stabbed into Kitsune's face, gashing his nose. "I curse you, Kitsune and Allen Walker!"_

_As Kitsune sobbed, his hair and clothes stained with blood, Allen gasped, arm expanding into a giant white claw….which promptly reached out and slashed their father. _

"_GYAAAH!" Mana shouted, his body thrown several feet from Allen._

"I don't know what happened…"

_The Earl vanished, eerie smile still on his face as the claw began crawling on along on the ground all on its own, Allen suddenly panicking by the fact that the claw was heading towards Mana. "Mana…? Stop! Leave Mana alone!" When the claw didn't respond, he changed tactics. "Run! Run, father!"_

_Kitsune stared at the spectacle with wide blue eyes, tears streaking the down his face, torn between terror and helping his father—and in the end, he was a coward and just sat there and wept as his whole world was ripped apart. _

"_Kit, Allen…I….love you…please destroy me." _

_The curse took hold as soon as Mana was dead; Allen screamed as his eye flared with pain, and all Kitsune could do through the burning of his nose was come and try and comfort his brother, guilt filling his body, knowing that he'd failed his family at their greatest need—and he swore, that never again he'd leave Allen like this; from now on, Allen would be his new world. _

_And no one would ever, _ever _touch his world. _

_So he looked with suspicion at the figure that suddenly appeared before him, dazed eyes trying to glare, but failing, shaking and pale with blood loss. "S-Stay away." He hissed, trying to tighten his grip around his prone brother. "Back!" _

"_A soul trapped inside an akuma is doomed forever. It is bound to be the Millennium Earl's toy for eternity." The red-haired figure—to Kitsune—almost looked like a saint, he realized numbly. "There is no other way to save such a soul except to exorcise it. You are a human born with an anti-akuma weapon within you…such a mercurial destiny… Yet another soldier of life doomed by fate. Do you want to become an exorcist?"_

_Kitsune glared at the man with visible hostility. "How can we trust you? How can we be sure you won't turn your back as soon as the job's done?"_

_Cross turned and scoffed at him. "Yet you are innocence-less. I can help you with that, foolish brat. So what do you say?" _

_Kistune looked at Allen, who slowly glanced up at his brother, before glaring at the man. "Allen's duty may be to these—akuma, but my duty is to protect my brother. If you touch him, you will be sorry." _

"And ever since then, I've been able to see the soul that's trapped inside an akuma. At first I thought about the hatred that Mana felt toward me. I decided to become an exorcist to make it up to him. But after seeing so many akuma, it dawned on me that…their tears aren't tears of hatred. It's their deep love for the ones who turned them into an akuma that makes them cry."

The blonde, whom had gone unnoticed most of the story, blinked back tears and bit his lip. Sure, he was cursed too—but it wasn't as obvious. All he could do was smell a whiff of the rotten scent, and it was only if he concentrated really hard. But Allen—he was suffering with something Kitsune could never, _ever _understand—and it was killing him, killing him to be right there and not being able to shoulder his brother's pain.

"'Why couldn't you have been stronger?' they cry…so I became an exorcist, not out of guilt, but to give myself purpose in life. This curse…is my guiding light." Allen clenched his hand, a determined expression on his face.

Kitsune blinked and narrowed his eyes, remembering—_that's right. Allen's purpose in life is to save the akuma, and my purpose in life is to protect my brother. And that's what I'll do!_

"Akuma are such lamentable creatures. They must never be part of this world! That's why I exorcise them."

The Earl smirked. "Oh Allen…I should've killed you back then. You can see the akuma's soul? You're going to save them? Go ahead and try! _Exorcist!" _With that, the Earl jumped on top of Leo-akuma and began showering him with bullets.

Allen didn't even move as Kitsune appeared in front of him, shield blocking any and all bullets that came along.

"The only reason you got my brother was because he was protecting John! But now he has me. Don't underestimate us!" He shouted, the shield turning into a sword.

"My anti-akuma weapon, when invoked has enormous strength and swiftness. The bullets are useless against my hand." Giving the Earl a good look at his weapon, he continued, "This exists to destroy your weapons. This is a weapon of God."

As Allen and the Earl began their verbal banter (where the Earl called up more than a dozen akuma) Kitsune turned to John, who was frozen with the information coming at him. "John, you need to get away from the cemetery." He smirked. "We're going to need a little space."

Then the two brothers leapt at the akuma, and they fought in perfect sync, covering each other where they were left open and capitalizing on opportunities—they were a fighting machine, working smoothly with each other.

"Allen…Sometimes you're so stupid." Kitsune said suddenly, the sword flashing into a shield before turning into a sword again. "You need to stop being such a good person. It's harder to protect you when you're reckless."

"Like you're one to talk." Allen smiled, slashing with his claw. "It's hard to do my job when you're mothering me!"

There was only a moments silence before…

"DESTROY THE AKUMA! ALLEN!" John shouted from the sidelines, after having a small important epiphany.

"He completely disregards my presence…?" Kitsune said unhappily, while Allen simply laughed. "Just finish the goddamn things off."

"Okay, Kit. CROSS GRAVE!" Allen roared, plunging his claw down, and created a giant explosion that killed all the akuma.

"O-ho, it seems the akuma don't stand a chance against you at this level." The Earl said cheerfully, floating away with his strange umbrella. "I'll try again next time."

"Earl!" Allen shouted, watching as the fat man floated away (which left him wondering how his fat carcass could get off the ground).

Kitsune basically tuned out the Earl as he began his dialogue, done with the whole, _"I'm taking over the world and there's nothing you can do to stop me." _Honestly, why couldn't the bad guys be a little more creative? How cliché.

He came back to hear Allen say, "Just…the beginning…" and just managed to catch his brother as he fell.

"GYAH! Aniki! You, John! Go get a doctor or something, and _step _on it!" When John hesitated, looking torn, Kitsune practically exploded on him. "What the _hell _are you still _here _for? I said GOOOOO!"

John left in a shriek of fear.

* * *

><p>"Tyki…" The Millennium Earl said, scratching his chin thoughtfully. "Time is being rewritten."<p>

Tyki looked up from Rhode's homework, blinking in surprise when he noticed his leader. "Um…what?"

"I didn't notice it when I first met him, but Kitsune Walker is rewriting time. He is an anomaly in this dimension; he doesn't belong here." The Earl elaborated, and Tyki could hear the thoughtful tone of voice.

"So…what?" This didn't sound that bad to him; after all, rewriting time wouldn't change their plans, would it?

"So I want you to kill him." The Earl said, and walked away, humming a jaunty tune.

* * *

><p>Omake<p>

"What. The. Hell?"

Cross sniggered and patted the top of Kitsune's head. "There, there, stupid second-rate apprentice. You need to pay off the debts, remember?"

"Yes, but…" Kit said desperately, tugging at the bottom of his outfit. "Why _me? _Allen's prettier!"

"Because he's first apprentice, idiot. You don't have an innocence, so you're second apprentice."

Allen (who was in the corner, laughing so much he was practically having a seizure) gasped out, "Yeah, Kit. You look so cute in it!"

Kitsune blushed and tugged the bottom of the maid's dress again, trying to get it to cover more skin, and then tried to adjust the headdress. "I'm _not _going into a _bar _wearing this, and I'm _not _going to _wait _on people like this!"

Cross crossed his arms and puffed on his cigar. "Yes, you _are. _I got you a very well-paying job, and this was the uniform, so be grateful, you ungrateful brat."

"Why can't _Allen _do this?" Even though he knew the answer, he could not help pulling that card again.

"Don't worry, Kit, Allen will have to do this too."

At that, Allen gave a tiny shriek.

And that is why the first thing the two brothers learned when they joined Cross was how to play poker, really, really well.

**Well, I skipped over some of the dialogue from the book, frankly because I'm way too lazy to type those and because it's my story. I tried to make events as similar as possible to the originals, but there are some small differences. Also, Allen's personality has changed a teensy bit from hanging around Kit too much. **

**I was kind of wondering why Allen learned how to play poker instead of working as a waiter or something, and came up with this. **

**Silver Writing Bug. **


	5. Chapter 4

**This story is not mine. Well, the dialogue is, but not the idea. Or the characters.**

"Why…the hell…did they have to place…this stupid Order…on top of a cliff?"

Allen rolled his eyes and hoisted himself a bit higher; deciding to ignore Kitsune's incessant complaining.

But he did have a point. Who _built _a building on top of a _cliff? _

"Don't like visitors much, do they?" Kitsune grumbled, reaching for another handhold. "Why couldn't they have had stairs? Or better yet, a lift?"

His patience was quickly running out. "Kitsune, please shut up."

There was only a moment's silence, before… "Did you just say what I _thought _you said?"

"Kit…" Allen moaned, testing a foothold.

"You know what master would've said?"

"Kit…" His voice became threatening.

"He would've shut you up with a right hook!"

Both the ex-apprentices shivered at the thought.

Allen reached the top first (probably because of his innocence arm), and he turned around and reached for his brother. With a mighty heave, both boys were sitting on the ground, panting and gasping for breath.

Kitsune recovered first; he slowly rose to his feet, gritting his teeth and stretching his cramped muscles. Allen was seconds behind him, brushing the dirt off of his black suit and straightening his collar with practiced hands. They gave each other a once-over (as was habit), and Allen walked over and slapped away a spider that'd made its home on Kit's shoulder. Then, they turned and faced the Black Order. Which, frankly, was the creepiest building the two of them had ever seen. That was saying something, seeing as they'd traveled with Cross to the lowest, most scary places imaginable.

So, with great trepidation, (and Kitsune clutching Tim like a teddy bear) they headed towards the Black Order.

* * *

><p>"Why didn't we boulder them?" Komui asked, watching the pair walk down the path towards the building. He took a long slurp from his coffee. "We can't let outsiders in. Get rid of them!"<p>

Reever sent an uninterested glance at his boss. "Oh, hey chief. Seems this group is a little different."

Lenalee leaned into the screen and pointed towards the golem the blond boy was holding. "See, right there—that's General Cross's golem, Komui. It's best we see what they want before sending them off."

That's when the white-haired boy noticed all the golems flying around, and stopped to speak to one. "Hello, my name is Allen Walker, and this is Kit Walker. Mas—Cross Marian sent us. We're here to discuss something with the Priests."

"The General's _alive?"_ Someone murmured.

"Chief," Reever asked, watching Komui, "He sounds like he thinks we're expecting them. Have you heard anything about this?"

Komui shrugged. "Nope."

* * *

><p>"You will be subjected to examination now."<p>

Kitsune frowned and scratched his chin, staring at the golem with curious eyes. "Now what does that mean?"

Allen cleared his throat loudly and pointed towards the door, and only then did Kit notice the giant humanoid face on it.

"What the hell?" He muttered, taking a step back.

"Don't be so rude, Kit." Allen muttered, and smiled at the Gatekeeper. "Hello."

There was a long, awkward pause before he suddenly leaned forward, eyes bulging out, keeping them completely trained on Allen.

The Gatekeeper had seen a lot of people coming and going; he'd seen all sorts of violent weirdos (coughcough*CrossKanda*coughcough) and nerdy freaks. He'd seen people half naked and people so dressed up it made you feel hot just by looking at them. Guts falling out of someone, limbs turned at odd angles, he'd seen it all—but he'd never seen a pair like these two.

For one thing, he could barely see the strange blonde boy, and white hair on a teen was just plain freaky. And, as soon as he'd begun scanning them, the albino-thing had become all fuzzy, and the blonde had disappeared entirely (which meant he was probably some sort of ghost, and that kind of freaked him out—okay, not kind of, it freaked him out _a lot.) _

That's when he noticed the pentacle on the boy's forehead, and all other thoughts fled his mind. "HE'S OUT! AKUMA! HE'S GOT A PENTACLE! HE'S AN ALLY OF THE EARL!"

"W-What?" Allen gasped, not even reacting as Kitsune pushed his way forward. "What the hell? Allen's not an akuma, you freaky face-thing!"

Inside the order, Komui had spit out his coffee and the others were reeling in shock that an akuma would be so stupid as to waltz up to their front door.

"Intruder alert!" An alarm blared, "Intruder alert!"

"Are all the exorcists healed and ready for battle?" Reever asked, frowning.

"Uh-huh."

"Don't worry," Lenalee said, smiling to the scientists behind her as a silhouette appeared on the screen. "Kanda's already there."

* * *

><p>There was a long, dramatic pause as Allen and Kanda stared at each other; Kanda sending a cold glare down from the top of the building and Allen warily watching him—<p>

"You _otoman!" _Kitsune chuckled at his own joke. "There's some sort of misunderstand—"

He was cut off—literally—by a sword finding where his face had been only moments before.

Kit rolled, and brought out his shield, barely managing to get it up in time before it was hit with a long katana. Incidentally, the sword promptly shattered into three pieces as soon as it hit.

Kanda stared at the hilt in his hand, which was suddenly a lot lighter than it had been just moments before, and only felt numbness, not the usual anger he was accustomed too. Did this person seriously just _break _his _sword? _His only prized possession, his love, his joy, his passion? The one thing that kept him from jumping off a cliff, the one thing that made life worth living, the only thing that actually deserved to be in his presence and still live? The sword he slept with, the sword he ate with, the sword he threatened with, the sword he had pledged his life to?

Unaware of Kanda's mental breakdown, Kitsune stared in shock. _Did the shield just shatter that sword? Uh-oh—I probably just shot all possibility of a peaceful negotiation with this guy. Why did the sword shatter? Did master do something to my shield? Wait a moment…he's glaring at me…he's turning really, _really _red…I think I should start running now…_

Thankfully, when the fem-boy came to punch him in the face, Allen came to his rescue.

He jumped in front in front of his brother, innocence-arm outstretched to form a barrier, and the hilt of the katana plunged into the hardened flesh.

"Allen!" Kitsune cried, crawling over to his brother. "Are you—"

He had to bring up the shield to prevent Kanda from interrupting their conversation. The hilt didn't break, though it certainly rattled the fem-boy a little bit.

"Stop!" Allen shouted, pausing to flinch every time the hilt slammed against the shield. "There—should've—been—a—letter—of recommendation—from—Master! To Komui!"

Kanda did not stop in his assault against the shield, whipping and slashing and hammering against that shield with the power of a charging bull.

Inside the Order, however…

There was a long silence, and all the eyes in the room found themselves on their chief. He paused in the middle of wiping his mouth.

"You there!" Komui shouted suddenly, pointing his finger at a random person in the crowd. "Search my desk."

The poor underling took one look at the desk piled high with papers covered in cobwebs, and nearly cried. "Th-That…?"

After getting stern looks from Lenalee and Reever, Komui whipped around and rose up a hand. "I'll help too!"

Thankfully, since the letter was more recent than the others, it took only a few minutes to find. The underling clenched the precious envelope in his hand and waved it around. "It's here!" He said, looking like he was going to cry in relief. "A letter from General Cross."

"Read it!" Komui shouted, throwing his papers everywhere.

"To: Komui." He began, and cleared his throat loudly before continuing. "Soon I will be sending over some brats named Kit and Allen. Thanks. General Cross."

"Right." Komui said, walking away, and then noticed that Allen and Kitsune were slowly weakening against Kanda's barrage. "Reever, stop Kanda!"

"Clean your desk!" Reever shouted back, before grabbing the golem. "Kanda! Stop it! They're clean!"

Outside the Order, Kanda did not like that command. He turned around, eyes tiny drops of cold ice, and smashed the golem into tiny bits and returning to keep releasing his anger against the shield.

Reever flinched as the connection disappeared. "Lenalee, we need you out there! Kanda's going to kill them!"

She glanced back at what was happening, and disappeared.

* * *

><p>Meanwhile, Allen had had enough.<p>

The only reason he wasn't going out there to tear Kanda's head off was because they were supposedly allies, and allies don't go attacking each other. In fact, the only reason Allen was even letting Kanda attack them was because he was confused and thought they were akuma—and, of course, Kit had to go and break his sword, which made it understandable as to why Kanda as attacking them so…vigorously.

But this was going overboard. That person on the golem had told him to stop, and Kanda had just smashed it to bit! He'd ignored a direct order! That would not do.

"Kit." Allen muttered, and his blonde brother nodded. "On three."

"One…two…"

The shield disappeared just as Kanda came down. He stumbled—which was all it took for Kit to come in and kick him in the chest. Then, quick as lightning Allen reached over and grabbed Kanda in his innocence claw, before slamming him to the ground.

Allen pressed down harder, making the claw bury itself deeper into the rock. "He said stop."

Kanda glared up at him, writhing and hissing curses.

"Seems like you don't need me anymore."

Kitsune turned around, to see a strange girl standing there, looking a little bemused. She was very cute, he deduced—black hair pulled up into pigtails, small, petite face, blackish-purple eyes…Perhaps that was when Kitsune realized she looked like the black to Allen's white. Hey, he'd never played matchmaker before, but it couldn't be that hard, could it?

Allen looked up a second later, and smiled at the girl. "Oh. No, don't worry; we have everything under control, Miss…?" He trailed off expectantly.

"Lenalee. Lenalee Lee. That's Kanda, by the way. You can let him up now."

As soon as he retracted the claw Kanda spun on his heels and stalked back inside.

"C'mon, then." Lenalee said, smiling. "I'll introduce you to the rest of the Order."

_Omake_

Tim stared at Allen and Kit.

They stared back.

"C'mon, Tim!" Kitsune shouted, throwing his fists into the air. "I know you can do it!"

Still, Tim did not say or do anything.

"Quit being so stubborn, Tim, and give it a shot!" Allen coaxed, smiling happily at the motionless golem.

"No." It was some girl's voice. She sounded like she was going to cry.

But still, it worked.

The brother's let out a loud cheer, and Tim began to circle around almost happily.

"That's amazing, Tim!"

This time, a man's voice responded. "Thank you."

"Yes!"

"I am so cool." That was Cross's voice.

"Hubba, hubba!" Kitsune roared, grabbing the golden golem and twirling him around.

"Totally bad-ass."

"Yes!"

"I'm going to tell Master!"

"Shit—no, Tim! Get back here!

**Yes, I broke Mugen. Actually, Kit broke Mugen.**

**Kanda: Die.**

**You'll get your chance later, sweetie. **

**Otoman means feminine man. 'Oto' means young lady (I think) and if you tack man on at the end…otoman. It's also the name of a manga, so technically it wasn't my idea.**

**Silver Writing Bug**

_Sneak preview…_

_Kitsune stared up at Hevlaska in horror as she writhed around in pain. _

"_What's wrong?" Komui shouted, leaning forward to get a closer look at her._

"_The Heart…" She moaned, rolling and twisting around. "It's…"_

_That was when a hand suddenly pushed through Kitsune's chest. _

_And the blonde exploded into flames._


	6. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: I own neither D. Gray Man nor Naruto.**

**Edit: FFN deleted my page breaks. -.-**

"Don't mind Kanda…he's a bit…" Lenalee trailed off, scratching her chin, watching the swordsman's retreating back. "Um…" It was obvious she was trying to describe him as politely as she possibly could.

Fortunately—or perhaps unfortunately—neither Allen or Kitsune were bound by this.

"An ass?" Kitsune said, the same time Allen said, "An insensitive jerk?" The two brothers glanced at each other and grinned, and simultaneously said, "Ditto."

The female exorcist gave them a wide-eyed stare. "That's…really creepy. Please don't do that anymore."

Kitsune laughed loudly, while Allen smothered his grin behind his hand. "My apologies, Miss Lee. It was not our intention to scare you."

Lenalee blinked and giggled slightly, allowing a soft smile to cross her face. "I can already tell Nii-san is going to hate you. Anyway, you better hurry; the doors will close even if you're not inside." She was already crossing the rocky with unusual grace and surprising speed. The boys' hurried after her.

Allen blushed slightly. She was so cute.

"So, Allen." Kitsune's suggestive, smug voice cut through his thoughts.

"Hm?" Was the short, distracted response.

He gave Allen a foxy grin. "Lenalee?"

The name, then tone, and the facial expression finally broke Allen out of his reverie. "What about her?"

"She's pretty cute, right?" Kitsune nudged his brother in the side, his grin widening marginally.

Allen blinked hard, blushed—"Yeah…No! I mean—why are you asking me this?"

He just sniggered softly, but gave no real response. While Allen pondered over Kitsune's strange behavior, the object of his thoughts was currently give the Black Order HQ a once over, scowling slightly when he heard the words of some other finders.

"_I thought he was an old man." _

"_I hear that he's cursed…"_

"_Isn't he a little young?" _

"_I'm not deaf, and neither is Allen!" _Kitsune muttered to himself, but didn't comment.

"_Well, I hear there's no required age for exorcists." _

"**Allen and Kitsune Walker, huh…" **

As the two brothers and Lenalee stood in the center of the pavilion, looking around, Allen couldn't help but lean over to comment, "So this is the Black Order, huh?"

Kitsune leaned in as well, shivering slightly, "Little creepy, don't you think?"

"C'mon, there's a lot to see, and Nii-san wants to see your Innocence." Lenalee beckoned the duo onwards, a small smile settling on her face, before doing a weird little hop and almost _trotting _down the hall.

Like a little _puppy. _

Allen thought it was absolutely adorable, but Kitsune thought it was just a tad strange—that a girl so happy could even be involved in a war. Not to mention that it was really weird anyone could be that happy in the first place.

And as the overly happy girl led them through the Order, both Allen and Kitsune knew that there were going to be problems. The place was so _huge, _had so many _rooms, _that both of them knew Allen would get lost at the drop of a hat.

As Lenalee lead them through the ominous, sweeping halls, she began to explain where they were.

"This is the cafeteria." She waved a hand in the direction of the tall room with gloomy photographs, the floor dotted with wooden tables and benches. "Jerry is our chef—he's excellent. And this is the training floor room on the third level…I'd avoid the one on the second floor, filled with trees; that's where Kanda trains in the morning." Lenalee sent back a reassuring smile as they walked through the long room, which was covered with deep gashes and thick scars.

"Trees?" Kitsune muttered to Allen, who shrugged helplessly.

They reached a room that had several red and white couches and cheerful lights—it happened to be the most pleasant room they'd seen so far. "This is the lounge; I'd avoid this place on Sunday nights, though. Sunday is the only day off for a lot of scientists, so they get smashed." Her smile became slightly strained. "Anyway…there's more than just this, such as the sanatorium, library, and individual rooms. I'll have to take you there later on."

"We get our own rooms?" Allen gasped in delight, though Kitsune's face curved into a frown.

"Nii-san, are we sharing?" He muttered, tugging on the elbow of his brother's suit.

Allen gave Kitsune a look of wide-eyed surprise, before his face split with a grin. "Of course, Kit. You know it."

Lenalee smiled at the brothers. "Of course, sometimes you two might need some space…so you'll have separate rooms anyway."

They nodded their thanks, though they seemed convinced they would never need space; after all, they were the best of friends. They told each other everything; they had ever since Kitsune was still struggling with English.

"As I was saying, exorcists live here when they're not on missions, so they often call this place 'home.'" Her eyes grew distant. "It's a place we can return to. Though…" As she spoke, her lips quirked into a smile. "There are some people who don't come home on purpose."

Kitsune snorted into his hand, while Allen's mouth dropped just a bit. Their thoughts were matching: _"Master Cross…" _

"It'll nice to have a place to settle down in." Kitsune commented, while Allen nodded his agreement. "We travel so much…"

Lenalee smiled softly at the duo, melancholy and gentle. Something inside Allen's heart melted just a bit at the sight of it.

As they were heading downstairs, Allen stopped to look at the floor they were currently on. "What's this floor for?"

The soft smile that had made its home on Lenalee's face turned into a polite, strained one. "You don't need to know."

"Why?" Allen asked quizzically.

"You really don't want to know."

And they left it at that.

Of course neither of them noticed how quiet Kitsune was being…or that he was no longer there.

* * *

><p>Kitsune Walker strode down the hallways, deep in thought. He didn't notice that he'd left Lenalee and Allen far behind; he didn't notice that the pair were on another floor entirely. His thoughts were on his new 'home', a concept so strange to him it sent his head reeling.<p>

He'd never had a home before; even when he was still a young, amnesiac little Japanese boy. Even Allen, who'd been abandoned when he was just a child, had had a home; he'd live in a cardboard box in an alley. But Kitsune…he didn't even know his own name. _Kitsune _was a pseudonym, a word that had felt so _right _but was still so _wrong; _Fox. The word, he knew, was deeply connected to him somehow, yet it wasn't his name. Allen and Mana had technically 'named' him. If Kitsune had ever had a home, it was a person, or two people. Allen and Mana—and after Mana died, just Allen.

Home had always been a person to him, not a place.

Always.

And then his thoughts were interrupted by him crashing into someone.

"Aaaaargh!" He shouted, ungracefully flopping on the floor, shock causing him to revert to his native language. "Ittai nani?"

"Baka!" A voice roared back. "Watch where you're going!"

That voice.

It was so…

Familiar.

"Sasuke-teme?" The words slipped out of his mouth as he stared at the strange black-haired boy, whose obsidian eyes glittered with hatred.

_That name. Where did that name come from? _

The anger relaxed on his face, and the boy—'Sasuke-teme', whoever that was—narrowed his eyes, mouth dropping slightly. "Naruto-dobe?"

Though the name was unfamiliar, it felt so _right. _

"Who _are _you?" Kitsune breathed, eyes widening. "And…what did you call me?"

"I'm…" The words were hesitant, as though he didn't quite believe his name anymore. "Hebi. Who are _you? _And what did you call _me?" _

"Sasuke-teme." The confused blonde repeated. "But I don't…know you. I've never met you before! Who are you?"

Sasuke—no, Hebi—sat back on his haunches, examining Kitsune with a curious eye, though the tone of voice he used was arrogant and cold. "I'm an exorcist. Who are _you?" _

"I'm…" Suddenly, the name _Naruto _felt so right. For some reason, a small voice in the back of his head was telling him that that was his real name. "K-Kitsune. And…I'm…" There was a long pause.

What was he exactly?

"Nobody, I guess."

The two boys stared at each other, trying to figure out why the heck they were so _familiar _to each other.

"Have we met?" Kitsune said finally. "I'm sorry, I don't really…I was an amnesiac, as a kid. Have we _met?" _

Hebi's mouth dropped for just a second, before it snapped back up again. "I was a…I was amnesiac too."

Again, there was a long pause, before Kitsune leaped forward and grabbed Hebi's shoulders, causing him to jump in surprise.

"Don't you see? This is a sign! We knew each other! We need to stick together—I have a feeling that if we do, we'll remember eventually!" Kitsune didn't even think about the words as they came pouring out; he was too excited by this discovery, of a person who _knew _him, who practically understood him! "Let's be friends!"

The wide, pearly smile that stretched across the over-enthusiastic boy's face was met with a stunned, shocked on from the other boy; it was obvious that Hebi was completely speechless.

After about five seconds, with Hebi still staring at him, speechless, Kitsune was distracted by something else.

"Wait. Where did Allen and Lenalee go? I swear they were right behind me…" Kitsune whipped around, and let out a startled cry when something smashed into his face. His cry of alarm turned into a shout of delight. "Tim! Boy, am I glad to see you. Let's go find Allen! Onward!"

As Kitsune ran down the hall, the thought of Hebi took a backseat in his mind. Had he looked behind him, though, he would have seen the shocked look the strange boy was still sending him.

Hebi, frozen on the floor, blinked slowly. "Friends…?"

* * *

><p>"Wh-Wh-What the hell is that thing?"<p>

Allen and Komui turned around in surprise, eyes settling on a blond teen with bright, astonished blue eyes.

"Kitsune! Where have you _been?" _Allen shook off the creepy prophecy he was just given to go talk to his brother. "You just…just vanished! What happened?"

Kitsune grinned sheepishly, patting Timcampy on the head (recoiling when the little golden golem snapped at his fingers). "I was distracted and got lost. Ha…ha…But anyway, what _is _that?" Kitsune pointed his finger at Hevlaska, who'd been silent the entire time.

Komui opened his mouth to answer, when Hevlaska let out a gasp of pain. The tall, glowing creature twitched. And then began to twist sickeningly.

Kitsune stared up at Hevlaska in horror as she writhed around in pain.

"What's wrong?" Komui shouted, leaning forward to get a closer look at her.

"The Heart…" She moaned, rolling and twisting around. "It's…"

That was when a hand suddenly pushed through Kitsune's chest.

And the blonde exploded into flames.

* * *

><p>Tyki Mikk was not an easy person to scare.<p>

He had a ridiculously high pain tolerance and extremely strong nerves, he could walk through walls, and he considered himself to be the coolest person he knew…considering he could rock a pair of work overalls and a t-shirt and still look like a sex god. And, of course, he was good at anything and everything he did; it was hard _not _to love himself.

Not to mention he was humble.

So when he got the order to kill a simple human, not even an exorcist, he expected the mission to be extremely easy; just an in and out job. In fact, he would have considered it extremely boring if not for the fact that he had to sneak in and out of the Black Order HQ. Now that was _fun, _being all sneaky and spy-like and stuff.

(Actually, Rhode had called his 'sneaky skills' terrible, but what did she know? She was his bratty little sister. Ish. Niece?)

He'd seen the target; and when he got close to the target, even _he _had felt the disturbance.

And it made him worried.

This child was rewriting the Earl's script.

He would kill him with his signature technique; Tyki would reach into his ribcage and pull out his heart, easy as that. And then things would proceed as they should. No more of this puny human ruining their plans!

He sauntered up behind the child, who was still standing in the doorway to the strange innocence-monster's room. _Such an unobservant little brat, _He sneered, puffing on his cigarette. _He would have died eventually. _

Tyki phased his hand and reached through the targets—_Kitsune, was it?—_chest, making sure that the other humans in the room could see his appendage. He got the intended reaction. The scientist gasped in horror, while the white-haired exorcist screamed out, _"Kitsune!" _

_So it was Kitsune. _

As he prepared to take the targets heart from his chest, he was shocked when the teen burst into golden flames.

Though the fire shouldn't have hurt him, Tyki felt as though his whole body was on fire, burning with pain and something else that was _technically impossible since the target isn't an accommodator—_

But there was no mistaking it. The teen was burning with _Innocence. _

He let out a hiss and retreated, clutching his burning hand, afraid to look at the charred thing that had once been his flesh. Then he realized, with the sinking feeling of horror, that the fire had burned his suit. _His expensive, Italian suit. _

Oh, the brat would _pay. _

But when the brat turned around to look at him, Tyki felt a shiver go up his spine.

Kitsune Walker's eyes had turned a deep, blood red.

Omake:

"Hn."

"Hn?"

"Che."

"Tsk."

"Hn."

"Hn…"

"Hn!"

"…che."

As Hebi and Kanda walked off, the two finders who'd been trying to listen to what they were saying stared at the spot where they'd been.

"What the heck was that?" One of them asked.

"…I don't have a clue."

A third finder, who'd been passing by, noticed their stunned expressions. "Hn. Newbies. _That _was a language that only two people on this planet can understand. The language of the grunts." He paused, and then added, "For those who don't have enough brainpower and/or social skills to form proper words."

**:O**

**Wow, okay. My muse is on a rampage. I honestly didn't expect that. **

**Anyway, so I have some explaining to do. I haven't updated in a while…and I'm very sorry. Truthfully, I have two accounts on Fanfiction, and I was finishing up a story that I'd been working on. (No, I'm not telling you my other account. I don't want any of you stalking my account.) Now that I'm finished though, I'll have way more time to write, so updates should be faster. **

**Anyway, there's another thing I should explain: **

**This is a **_**crossover. **_**Meaning that there are two fandoms involved. So if you've read one and haven't read the other, it's going to be very confusing for you. I don't want to explain the common knowledge of the fandoms. Instead, I suggest you read them both. Well, Naruto is kind of long and can get boring at times, but both D. Gray Man and Naruto are worth reading. **

**And this is manga-based, btw. I really dislike the anime. **

**Now, to respond to reviews: **

**Ddcj1990: Thanks for reviewing. Much appreciated. **

**Kenegi: That's going to be a tale for the future, but we will find out ;). Thanks for reviewing.**

**.Apples: Stop clawing at the walls, you'll hurt your fingers. Here's the next chapter. **

**Moshi95 AKA sherley C: I'm glad you chose to look at this. Thanks for your review! **

**Ashiteru my hasu: Thanks very much ! Reviews are appreciated. **

**Masked Bard of Chaos: Spoilers XD! Thanks for reviewing. **

**Naruko Uzu: Cliffhangers are my greatest weapon. Respect the log. **

**AutummLeafFall: I love cliffhangers. They leave the audience begging for more. Thanks for reviewing!**

**Update Nowwy:…Very subtle. Thanks for that.**

**Dimesiontimetraveler: Hevlaska is common knowledge in the D. Gray Man fandom, so go and read it. The manga is incredible. And no, as you can see, Naruto does not die. **

**Mangafreak: I'm glad you like the story so much! And spoilers. No telling! Thanks for your review. **

**Damix201:…Somehow I get the feeling that 'interesting' isn't always 'good'. Anyway, thanks for reviewing.**

**Ken lim: Thanks for reviewing! **

**Lonewolfgirl-sademo588: Spoilers, no, yes, and yes! Haha. Thanks for reviewing! **

**Silver Writing Bug**


	7. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or D Gray Man.**

One moment Kitsune was there, crouching on the ground like some sort of animal, and the next his figure blurred and he vanished into nothingness.

Tyki leapt back, looking around frantically for the young blonde, ignoring the other two Black Order members—one did have an Innocence, but that wasn't his problem right now. Right _now _he had to deal with the blond, the one he was supposed to kill, who had mysteriously vanished. His amber eyes trailed the open air, flickering all around, and then—

The air blurred in front of him—

And he barely moved his head aside in time to dodge a clawed hand swiping at his beautiful face. For the second time he caught sight of the creature that the young blonde had become—whisker-like markings darkened into thick lines, eyes blood red, some sort of golden fire surrounding him…and then the young teen vanished again.

As he was now, there was no way he could defeat this kid without playing all his trump cards. "I think," Tyki murmured out loud, "A tactical retreat is best at this point."

He needed to tell the Earl about this development.

"Oh no you don't!" His eyes widened at the sound of the guttural growl behind him—Tyki pushed off of thin air, dodging as quickly as he could—and still getting away with a sharp stab of pain down his side. Again, his eyes held Kitsune's, seeing the bloodlust and the insanity—and then the young teen vanished again.

Okay, never mind. Time to see if reason would work with this beast. He doubted it, but what else could he do?

"What good is it, attacking me?" Tyki shouted, eyes alert for the blur that was now Kitsune—or what had _been _Kitsune. "Don't you want information from me? Or something?"

There was a sudden pressure in his collar—and before Tyki could react he found himself flying through the air towards the far wall, sailing past the strange white creature, and against the rocky surface. All his air left him in a sudden rush, eyes bulging as he tried to breathe, _breathe. _As he did so, nightmarish crimson irises stared at him intensely, pupils catlike slits. It had all happened so fast—there was nothing he could have done to block the fierce charge, which was something that had never happened to him before.

A foreign emotion slowly formed in the pit of his chest—something cold and unwelcome. _What if I can't get out of here? _He thought. _What if I can't win without using my highest form? _

_What if I die?_

His panicked thoughts were cut off by the low, guttural voice again, full of malice and venom, something _ancient _echoing in its depths. Tyki suddenly realized that he had no idea what he was dealing with—why had he walked in so carelessly? Something that was able to mess with time obviously had some sort of special power.

"**You **tried **to kill **my **host." **Every time the blond's mouth opened, he got a good look at the impressive canines. "**Kono tame** ni wa **shinanakereba **naranai." Tyki had no idea what the teen was saying, though by the way his eyes glittered and his thin lips sneered, it wasn't good for him.

And then to his horror, those impressive canines descended for his throat.

_Backwards one minute_

Allen gasped and pulled his Innocence arm to his chest as it suddenly resonated and shivered, skin roiling. It felt as though he had lost all control of the appendage, and he had to gulp down panic as the white skin twitched alarmingly. It took him a second to remember that he could deactivate his Innocence, and he didn't know if it would help but at least he could try.

The skin smoothed into wrinkled, ugly brown. The odd resonation faded into a dull, muted hum. Confused, Allen lifted his hand to his line of vision; it didn't _look _any different than normal, but…

He was startled out of his examination by the sound of the strange, tanned man crying out in pain. He shook his head and told himself to stop worrying about hit arm's odd behavior—he could worry about it later. Right now, though, something was up with Kitsune.

"Kitsune!" Allen cried desperately, eyes searching desperately for his younger brother. He really had no idea what was going on—one minute Kitsune had had a hand in his chest, the next he was crouching like an animal with a golden fire surrounding him and he was acting strangely, the next he had vanished—and now all these cuts were appearing on Tyki, and it looked like it was Kitsune's fault but he didn't know because everything was moving too _quickly—_

Oh, God. He had never felt more helpless than he had now. Well—except for all those years ago, in the graveyard with Mana, but…

Something was wrong with his brother. His little brother, who he had practically helped raise. Usually he could do something about Kitsune's troubles—a good listening ear, a helping hand…everything he had ever been asked for, Allen had provided. There had never been a time when he couldn't do anything, but now—

"Where is he?"

Allen jumped, startled. He had completely forgotten about Komui. The scientist had been suspiciously silent throughout the proceedings, and Allen was quite certain that this was highly unusual. His silver eyes watched Komui for a second, before they went back to the air, where Tyki was looking a little worse for wear. "I…don't know." He shook his head minutely, and flinched softly when a long scratch appeared on the tanned man. "I can't see him at all." The whitette was quiet for a second. "But…" His hand clenched quietly around his heart. "I can almost _feel _his rage. This isn't like Kitsune at all."

Komui watched him with unreadable, dark eyes for a moment; then he slowly turned back to the airborne fight. This made Allen uneasy; it was obvious the man was planning something for his brother. He would have to watch this strange scientist.

The two of them tensed when Kitsune suddenly appeared in front of Tyki and dug his clawed hand into the collar of his tuxedo. Allen leaned as far over the edge of the platform as he could, staring at the pair with wide eyes, breath caught in his throat.

_What is Kitsune doing? _

The blond was speaking to Tyki, saying something, and the tanned man's eyes were bulging from lack of air.

This wasn't his brother; his kind, merciful, honest brother. Kitsune never fought an unfair fight, and Allen believed that he never would. This wasn't even a battle, this was a massacre; it was so one-sided it was almost frightening.

Kitsune finished speaking, and then—his mouth opened wide, as though preparing to bite the older man.

Allen gasped quietly when he realized that that was the intent, numb horror spreading throughout him. "_Kitsune!" _He screamed, putting one foot on the railing to try and get closer, despite the fact that they were so far away.

His little brother froze an inch from Tyki's pumping jugular and tilted his head, the fire surrounding him dimming just a hint—thank _God_.

"Allen, get back. You're going to fall." Komui said sharply, grabbing Allen's shoulder. The shorter teen shook him off, not caring about his own safety, completely intent on getting through to the crazed blond.

"_Kitsune, _this isn't like you!" Desperately he tried to reason with his brother, slightly relieved when the fire dimmed just a little more. "Let him go!"

For a second, he thought Kitsune would back off—but one moment he was leaning over the platform, talking his brother out of doing something he'd really regret later on, and the next his foot slipped—his hands suddenly loosened from the railing, and—

Allen was falling.

_~BOWF~ _

_RAGERAGERAGERAGERAGERAGE—_

_How dare he. How dare he attack me. _

A haze of pure hatred had descended over his mind. The world blurred by in a whirl of color—but it wasn't disorienting. No, there was clarity. So much clarity. Just him and the bastard who had attacked him.

_Kill him. Make him suffer. _

He lashed out, not caring where or how the strikes landed. All he was focused on was causing pain. Killing was easy, but drawing out suffering took practice.

_**Kill him. He invaded your sanctuary. He frightens you. Kill him. **_

He was fine with that. This presumptuous man, how dare he? He was nothing, a nobody compared to him, King of the Beasts!

And then the fool spoke. The tanned lips opened, and the low, dark tones escaped his disgusting, treacherous mouth.

Fox sneered, and lunged forwards, prepared to teach this child a lesson. He curled his claws in the soft collar, tearing into it, and kept their eyes connected as they flew towards the rocky wall of the cave.

_See the __**fear. **__Revel in it. _

Kitsune didn't see a problem with this.

They slammed into the surface, and the weak man gasped as all the air escaped his lungs. Kitsune smirked—he was going much too fast for this man to react. Fox opened his mouth to speak to him, to teach him a lesson.

"_**You **__tried __**to kill **__my __**host." **_No, that wasn't right. It wasn't natural to him. What…? Oh, yes. He knew what would make this moment feel like a true hunt. _"__**Kono tame**__ ni wa __**shinanakereba **__naranai." _

_For this, you shall die. _

His canines descended in for the kill, preparing to feel the warm, satisfying gush of blood—

"_Kitsune!" _

That single word broke ever so slightly through the haze in his mind—_who dares interrupt my hunt? _The voice in his mind whispered, but it was quiet and easily ignored. He stopped and cocked his head curiously—someone had spoken his name, and he thought he recognized who it was. _Why is that voice so familiar…? _

The man under his claws unconsciously let out a relieved breath, sagging in his grip. Kitsune growled at him, letting him know what would happen if he tried to move (after all, the hunt wasn't over)—and then turned his attention back to the strange voice.

Another voice murmured something—a warning, and Kitsune found himself annoyed by it. And then the voice—the warm, familiar voice that seemed to pound in his brain like a bass drum—spoke again. "Kitsune, this isn't like you!" There was a note of desperation. "Let him go!"

For a second, though Kitsune didn't realize it, his eyes flashed blue. He shook his head, trying to clear it, thoughts moving sluggishly. _That's—_

"ALLEN!"

Kitsune turned sharply at the sound of his brother's name, blue eyes wide with surprise—that's right, how could he ever have forgotten—and he twisted around so he could see his brother, who had managed to save him from committing that horrible atrocity. When his gaze landed, his heart stopped.

His brother was sailing gracefully through the air, silver eyes surprised, hands stretching towards the ceiling. He didn't know how, or why, but somehow his older brother had fallen off the platform.

If Kitsune didn't do anything…well, that was a long way to fall.

Without thinking, the blond pushed off from the wall and soared through the air, unconsciously using his newfound powers to glide through the empty space. He reached forwards and wrapped his arms around Allen, catching him gracefully, before flipping around and crouching smoothly on the bottom of the triangle platform, a feat he couldn't have accomplished even with Cross's fancy gadgets. Then Kitsune pushed off with his bottom foot, running quickly up the metal side and leaping above the railing, flipping gently onto the tile surface.

It all happened in less than five seconds.

For a second Kitsune stood there, holding Allen to his chest protectively while Komui looked on in shock—but then his knees buckled and he collapsed to the ground, still cradling his brother, hugging him tightly. His legs unfolded slowly, stretching out in front of him, and his shaggy blond hair hid his eyes as he buried his face into Allen's chest.

Allen let out the breath he'd been holding, feeling the sudden shock of fear flow through him at the feeling of near death. He pushed this off, though—his brother was definitely not okay, especially after what had happened. Ignoring Komui's awkward hovering and the fact that his arm had gone back to its normal, numb state, Allen wrapped his arms around Kitsune's neck. His little brother's breathing was shallow and panicked, and he could fairly sense the waves of distress slowly beginning to turn into fear and chaotic turmoil.

Then, the blond let out a deep, shuddering sob that broke Allen's heart. He could almost—no, wait, he _could_ feelevery wave of fear and sadness that poured through Kitsune's soul, and it ebbed like the sea.

He tightened his grip around his little brother's neck, flinching at every single cry Kitsune let out. "It's okay," Allen murmured into Kitsune's ear, kissing the top of his spiky blond head comfortingly. "I'm okay. Nobody's dead. Everything's okay."

"_I nearly killed him." _There was a quiet, desperate whisper, accompanied by a heavy shudder. _"You nearly died." _

"But I'm not dead." Allen felt Kitsune's arms tighten and untighten around him, but didn't care—the younger brother was obviously just making sure he was still there, still _alive. _"And he's not dead."

Their eyes suddenly met as Kitsune finally raised his head, blue rimmed with red meeting calm, soothing silver. _"_I _wanted _to, Allen." He hissed. "I—I—" He shuddered again, and hid his face again.

"_Shhh," _Allen murmured, ignoring his own fears which were beginning to form. There was no doubt something was wrong with Kitsune—but they could cross that bridge when they got to it. Right now, his brother needed him. "It's okay."

Kitsune wasn't stupid. "_No, it's not." _He whispered. _"Allen, what's happening to me?"_

But Allen didn't have an answer.

* * *

><p><em>Unbeknownst to the two inside Hevlaska's chamber, every Innocence in the world had resonated when Allen's had. Every single accommodator felt something inside of them change with Kitsune's odd golden fire. <em>

_All eyes looked towards England; every accommodator in Europe began to head for the Black Order HQ. _

**Yeah, guys, look who's back!**

**...**

***cue angry screams***

**Okay, I know it's been a while since I've updated (hey lookie there, over a year), but I'm just here to tell you guys...that I really have no excuse. I kept meaning to update but I was too busy, I needed to work on my baby pet-project which I have been writing for almost three years...everything just came up at once, and for some reason I didn't take the time out of my day to write the damn chapter. But Now I'm back, and I'm back for good. No more ridiculously long waits :). Well, hopefully anyway. **

**DragonLord577 took down the challenge from his profile, so I'm kind of winging it as far as the story goes. When I get the time I might PM him. Or if anyone saved the challenge, that would be fab. **

**This might kind of suck, and I'm sorry if it disappoints you...(honestly the reason I didn't put in an Omake was because I felt it would ruin the really touching scene I put in between Allen and Kitsune). No, the brothers will not be a couple. They've just known each other for so long, and Kitsune was terrified, and Allen's kind of shaken from nearly being turned into a pancake...**

**I know you may be like, 'What's this with Allen sensing Kit's feelings blahdeblahdeblah?' Well, there's a good reason for that. In the manga I've noticed that Allen's Innocence doesn't really have a special ability; yeah, his arm can change shapes, but all he does is stab and cut and crap. I'm giving him a different ability to make it more interesting; I'm making him an empath. Don't worry, I'm not going to overpower him, but this is my story and if I want to change canon then yeah, I'm going to do it. **

**I've probably lost the good majority of my reviewers with this long wait...but maybe I'll get them back again. I'll try to make sure that this never ever happens again. **

**I never expected this story to become so popular. Really. Thanks for everyone who's begged me to come back...I'm very sorry for making you wait.**

**IceEckos12**

**p.s. since when did they allow spellcheck in fanfiction?**


	8. Chapter 7

**I don't own D Gray Man or Naruto.**

_The next day_

"How is he?"

The nurse turned to glare at Komui, and he shrank back under her terrifying stare. If there was one person he was really and truly afraid of, it was this woman. "He'll be fine. He wouldn't let go of his brother, though, which made doing my job difficult." Her expression was steely and cold. "I think nothing short of a traumatic experience would have caused that." A carefully concealed question.

The director sighed, remembering the incredible battle that had just occurred, remembering the _fear _on Kitsune's face when he'd seen his brother fall from the platform. It was the same fear Komui himself felt when his sister nearly died because of what those _bastards _at Central had done. As brothers, they had faced the same pain—and it was worse than any physical injury. His face unconsciously fell. "You weren't there."

The old woman's gaze softened—she had known Komui and Lenalee since they were very young, and knew how empathetic and protective the older brother was. She could already see that Komui was fond of the two boys, and whatever had happened in Hevlaska's chamber had nearly killed them. "Well, they're alright now." She said firmly. "They _will _survive."

He managed a weak smile, and then suddenly remembered exactly what he was here for. His expression once again darkened, before clearing and becoming a blank stare. "Can I see them?" He asked monotonously.

The nurse gazed at him for a second, before shaking her head and sighing. "Yes. But there's one thing I forgot to mention to you."

He perked up. "Oh?"

The old matron suddenly reached out and drew Komui into a hug. When she was close enough, she began to speak very quickly in his ear. "There are burns all over the blond one. I don't know how, or why, but those burns have Innocence in them."

Komui forced himself not to react.

"I don't know what you're playing at," She continued, "But I _do _think Central's got its grip in you right now. Whatever they told you to do, don't do it until he's recovered. Doctors orders." Then she released him, turned around, and said in a much louder voice, "I'm sorry you're so upset about this, Komui. Follow me."

He jumped, did his best to look miserable, and quickly followed after her.

The nurse reached the bed where Kitsune rested and opened the curtain so Komui could go inside—for some reason she had chosen to give the blond and his brother a little privacy. This of course meant that it was very dark in the enclosed space, and it took a second for his eyes adjust. When they did, Komui just about 'D'awww'-ed.

Kitsune was lying in the bed, wearing the hospital uniform. His clothes, slightly charred from his brief but intense battle with Tyki, were lying on the bedside table beside him. There wasn't a bare patch of skin on his body; instead it was all bandages—the burns, he surmised quickly.

Allen was curled up on the floor, upper body sprawled haphazardly across the bed. He was holding his brother's hand with one of his own. The two of them were both asleep.

As an older brother, Komui thought that this was absolutely adorable—and just a bit depressing. The brother's rather intimate moment after Allen's near death had proven what he'd originally assumed—that they were the only thing each other had left. Allen had said that he and Kitsune traveled the world, and it was pretty obvious that any worldly possessions the two would have would get lost or destroyed, either by fate or their Master.

Komui reached into his pocket and pulled out his 'Lena-cam', which he often used to stalk his younger sister and take pictures when she wasn't looking. (Yeah, so maybe she called him a creeper for it, but she was still adorable!) He snapped a quick shot of the image, preserving it in the heavy, bulky device (the rest of the science department often wondered how he fit the damn thing anywhere on his person without being noticeable, but Komui wasn't about to tell his secrets), and then slowly lowered the camera.

He hesitated.

He remembered when he was that innocent, that carefree. But not anymore

After a moment he ducked out of the curtained area, deciding that Central could just wait until Kitsune had recovered.

However that sad moment had left him in a melancholy attitude. Right now there was only one thing that could cheer him up, and that one thing was—

And then he saw her. Walking towards him, a cheerful bounce in her step, a half smile on her pretty face.

Komui immediately had a spazz attack and leaped for his little sister, spreading his arms open wide to accept her hug. "Lenaleeeeee!" He cried happily. "How nice to—"

That was as far as he got before a gentle foot to his face stopped him in his tracks. "Hi brother." She said dryly as he slid to the floor, ignoring his pained whimper. Then her expression became concerned, and her eyes traveled to the curtained bed behind him. "How are Allen and Kitsune?"

Of course by now _everyone _had heard about the fight that had happened in the bowels of the Black Order—well, not the entire story. All they knew was that there had been a scuffle, and that now there was an exorcist and a non-exorcist currently chilling in the medical room. There were many rumors (including a rather believable one where Allen had broken his fist on Komui's clipboard, and a rather unbelievable one that included high heels and flamethrowers, hence the burns on Kitsune), but none of them had even come close to the truth. After all, sometimes truth _is _stranger than fiction.

"Allen's fine." Komui sighed, becoming serious again, and ran his hand through his hair. "Kitsune will walk away with a few scars, but he'll recover."

Lenalee still looked concerned, and a hint annoyed. "There's something you're not telling me."

And suddenly, Komui realized something—his little sister looked unusually strained, like she'd been handling a bunch of idiots all day. He lowered his hand and tilted his head. "You know…I think there's something you're not telling _me _either."

The reaction was instantaneous. It seemed as though Lenalee had been bottling up her feelings all day, and now…eruption. A rather violent explosion of words began to pour from her delicate pink lips.

"All day exorcists have been showing up on our doorstep, from all over Europe!" She looked as though she was going to start tearing out her hair. Komui recoiled in surprise. "I didn't know _half _of them! And I was expected to find room for all of these guys, even though we've been using a third of the empty rooms as _storage space!" _She threw up her hands. "_STORAGE SPACE! _How does anyone expect me to do _anything _when it's all _storage space!" _

Komui opened his mouth.

"_I'm not finished!" _She hissed angrily, stopping her brother in his tracks.

He obediently shut his mouth.

"They're all here for the same reason!" She glared at Komui. "They said that they all felt the exact same thing—their Innocence's resonated with something. _Mine _did too, at the same time the fight was supposedly occurring." Her eyes glittered with rage. "So you better tell me _right now, _or I am seriously going to hurt somebody. Specifically _you._"

Komui knew that if he told his sister anything, there was the strong possibility that she would become a liability to the Black Order—what had occurred down there was need-to-know sort of thing, and she was one of the people who _didn't_ need to know. The fact that someone had just waltzed into their base and nearly killed someone? Dangerous knowledge. That the same person who had been attacked might _possibly _be the heart?

Enough to kill for. Enough to drag his little sister kicking and screaming from her bed and take her to the experimental floors, enough to send her back to that awful place where she had once been—

Komui nudged his glasses up his nose with one hand, a neutral expression on his face. "Lenalee…" He began seriously.

She seemed to sense the change in mood. "Yes, brother?"

He paused for a second, just for effect. Then flipped her a thumbs up and said, "It's time to make like a sexy Portuguese man and stage a tactical retreat."

Before she could work out what he had said, Komui darted away and down the hall, quickly losing her in the maze that was the Black Order, a cheesy grin on his face. He knew this place better than the back of his hand—if he wanted to get lost here, there was not a damn thing that could stop him from doing so—

Except for that.

Oh God, he did _not _see that coming.

Komui froze for just a second, good mood disappearing down the drain, and then quickly ducked back around the corner and straightened out his lab coat and beret, trying to look as professional as he could. Inwardly he was panicking—yes, there had been that whole deal with the exorcists, but he hadn't expected _him _to show up! Komui had sent a message to Central as soon as he got the time, briefly summarizing the incident; Central had ordered him to detain Kitsune and then block off Hevlaska's chamber, in case there was only a way in through there. He'd _thought _that would be the end of it, but…

He needed to find Reever and tell him to hide Lenalee so the two of them wouldn't meet, he needed—

More time to prepare.

But he didn't have that. This was all happening _too quickly. _

Satisfied that he was mostly okay, Komui straightened, took a deep breath, and walked back into the hallway, trying not to show how shaken he was.

"Inspector Lvellie." He greeted formally, reaching out to shake the man's hand.

The secretary appeared to be in his element, surrounded by the members of the Crow, looking down on all the other people in the room on his man heels. His chilly grey eyes bore into Komui like steel drills, and for a second the scientist thought that Lvellie _knew _about his uneasiness.

But that was impossible. Lvellie was not a god, no matter how much he pretended to be one.

"Supervisor Komui." He shook, grip strong and powerful. Komui forced himself not to quail, because that was exactly what the secretary wanted—dominance.

Komui would not give him satisfaction.

"What brings you here, secretary?" He asked as politely as he could, trying not to spit the word.

Almost casually Lvellie tilted his head, as though acknowledging something that wasn't even there—like usual, he didn't seem too keen on pleasantries. "Not too long ago I got word of a massive amount of exorcists all heading in this direction, from all over the world. They all claimed the same thing—that something had called them there, and not even I could stop them from coming." His cruel eyes narrowed even further, and a chill ran up Komui's spine. This, added with the heavy weight of the cold Crows' stare, was enough to freeze him like a frightened rabbit. "I decided that this situation required my more immediate attention."

It took a moment for Komui to respond past his fear. "I…I see."

Lvellie stepped closer, and it was all he could do not to take a step back. "There is something you aren't telling me."

He didn't bother to deny it; somehow, Lvellie seemed to know more about the situation than he did. Instead, he nodded and tried to save face. "I wasn't certain about what we had found; I didn't want to alert you unnecessarily."

There was a knowing, bloodthirsty glint in Lvellie's eyes. "And what did you think you had found?"

Komui bowed his head, silently asking Allen and Kitsune for their forgiveness; what he was going to say next would essentially throw the younger brother to the wolves. "The Heart."

~BOWF~

Allen woke to the sound of loud voices.

"Can't you see that he's sleeping?" Kitsune's loud voice rang in his ear, driving deep into his sleeping haze and rousing him from his dreams. "Keep it down, you assholes!"

"You're the one who's shouting, idiot!" That voice was unfamiliar… "If anything, _you're _going to wake him up!"

The silverette opened his eyes and yawned sleepily, stretching his arms across the bed, popping his back quietly. The voices stopped as he did so, and when Allen relaxed, he opened his eyes—and promptly found himself the attention of the other occupants in the room. "Um…" His clear silver irises flickered unsurely—there were three unfamiliar people staring at him. He didn't do well under attention; the rest of the sleep cleared, and shyness set in; he curled inwards slightly, trying to hide himself. "Hi…"

Still, dead silence. And for some reason, Kitsune looked unusually smug.

Now more confused than shy, Allen glanced up at his younger brother. "Kitsune, what's going on?"

And with that, the spell was broken. One of the people, a strange girl with mousy brown hair and green eyes, lunged forwards and caught his face in her hands. "Oh my God you're so adorable." She squished his cheeks happily in between her hands.

Allen recoiled and blushed, eyes wide with mortification. "I—I—"

"Aw look, you've embarrassed him." A teen with pitch black hair and deep blue eyes smiled, casually leaning against the nearby wall. "Sorry, kid. Leah's obsessed with cute things."

"If only you were older." She sighed and pulled his face towards her chest. "I would _totally _date you."

Kitsune, who had been laughing behind him the entire _freaking time, _nearly fell off the bed with the force of his cackling.

Allen, face so red that it was almost purple, pushed the older teen off of him and flung himself away. He flailed embarrassingly, trying and failing come up with a proper response to that, but to his own mortification he instead said the first thing that came to his mind. "I—I—I'm fifteen!"

There was another roar of laughter, Kitsune's own tearful cackles joined by the raven haired teen's, and the third teen's, a quiet ginger with green eyes, chuckles. The moment, however, was ruined when Kitsune suddenly let out a pained gasp and clutched his sides. The rest of the people instantly quieted, and Allen unsteadily rose to his feet and staggered towards his brother (Leah moved quickly out of his way), his hands hovering protectively over Kitsune's heaving sides.

"Are you okay?" He asked worriedly.

Still laughing and gritting his teeth in pain, Kitsune waved him away. "Fine, fine. All this laughing is making me exhausted." All the others except for Allen watched him unsurely, obviously pretty certain he was not fine.

Allen completely agreed with them; he was undeterred, overprotective big brother mode activated in full force. He turned to the other people in the room, who looked slightly surprised by the sudden change in the mood. "You all need to get out of here. Shoo, shoo. He needs to recover."

Kitsune put his head in his hands. "Not _now, _Allen. I'm fine."

Allen put his hands on his hips and puffed out his cheeks. "Aw, am I embarrassing you in front of your little friends?"

It seemed as though all the others in the room had disappeared from the brothers' radars—the trio watched their interactions with vague amusement.

The blond folded his arms stubbornly. "You look totally gay right now, bro."

Allen opened his mouth to respond—but then a cold, frigid voice cut into the room (and the relaxed atmosphere) and froze them all.

"Kitsune Walker."

Allen felt his heart stop in his chest—there was a sudden chill running up and down his spine, like someone had scratched fingernails up and down a chalkboard. There was nothing else to describe the _feeling _he got at just the _sound _of that voice—oh _God. _A deep pit of despair had opened up in his stomach the minute that human being had walked into the room—

Whoever that person was…was _bad news. _

"If you don't mind." That voice. Allen unconsciously began to fold in half, curling in closer towards his younger brother—Kitsune watched him curiously, and unsurely, wondering what was going on with the silverette. "I'd like to talk with you alone."

Kitsune looked from his brother, to the strange man, and back to his brother. Allen's gray eyes were staring at the floor—Kitsune hadn't seen him look like that since…Mana. And that had been pretty bad. Finally, the blond carefully wrapped his arm around Allen and pulled him close, staring unblinkingly at the person who had terrified his brother so much. "I don't know if that's such a good idea."

The man noted the protective hold, and seemed to realize that he would never get to talk to Kitsune without Allen being there. He nodded, before turning his cold glare on the other people in the room. "Your brother can stay, of course. You all, however, will have to leave."

They left quickly—obviously they felt the same way about this guy as Kitsune did. Whatever was going on with Allen, though, Kitsune didn't have a clue. For some reason, whatever was wrong with this guy was affecting the silverette worse than everyone else. It unsettled Kitsune greatly—Allen had always been an extremely good judge of character, and for him to be affected this badly...

"Now that they're gone…" The man pulled up a chair and sat in front of the bed, seemingly oblivious to Allen's obviously adverse reaction to him. "My name is Malcom Lvellie, and—"

"I don't care who the hell you are. Get to the point." Kitsune tightened his grip around Allen—it was worse than he thought. His older brother was literally _shaking! What _could terrify him so much? This was the teen that fought monsters and saw tortured souls on a daily basis. Whatever it was, Kitsune needed to get Lvellie away from his brother.

There was a frigid pause—Kitsune got the feeling that no one had had the nerve to tell the bastard to shut up in a long time. There was a minute twitch in his mustache—then a jump in his hands—and Lvellie relaxed, though his voice was a tone darker and colder than before. "An incident occurred in Hevlaska's chamber yesterday. Tell me what happened."

Kitsune was immediately suspicious. "Why should I?"

"Because—"

"Just tell him."

Lvellie and Kitsune glanced down at Allen in surprise at the interruption, but Kitsune especially; usually the silverette just rolled his eyes whenever Kitsune was rude to his elders. Now, though…his eyes were downcast, posture slumped and defeated. His voice came out as a low whisper. "Please, just…he's too dangerous, Kit. Just don't."

Once again, Kitsune dragged his gaze from his brother to Lvellie—his pride was telling him to not let this creep walk all over him, but Allen…

He forced himself to calm down, and nodded his head softly at his older brother. "Okay, Allen." Then, his gaze sharpened and he turned his glare onto the secretary. "I don't remember anything."

Allen looked over at his younger brother in surprise—this was the first he'd heard of this. He'd have to interrogate Kitsune the minute this creep left—but right now his brother's grip was the only thing keeping him from curling up and crying in a corner. He quickly turned his focus back to the conversation at hand.

Lvellie stiffened. "That's impossible. You're lying."

"Did I _stutter?" _ Kitsune snarled—because for once, it was the truth. He could not remember a damn thing after the hand had appeared in his chest—one moment, he'd been certain he was dead, and the next he was seeing Allen falling, _falling…_everything in between that moment was a big, hazy blur of bloodlust and anger. "I don't remember a damn thing."

The secretary was silent for only a second. "Did you know that you were an accommodator before this incident?"

Kitsune blinked. "No, I—"

"Your mentor was Marian Cross, correct?"

"Well yeah, but—"

"That is all." Lvellie stood neatly, completely ignoring the fact that Kitsune's jaw had dropped as though it had been unhinged. His quick strides nearly took him out the door before the blond was able to stop him.

"Wait!" Kitsune cried.

He paused, one hand on the doorknob.

Kitsune lowered his hand, narrowing his eyes at Lvellie. "Why are you questioning me like this?"

For a moment, it looked as though Lvellie would answer; but then he smirked, the temperature dropped, and he left the room, leaving the pair shivering in his wake.

For a minute, the brothers just sat there, taking comfort from each other's presence, digesting what had just occurred. Allen was slowly starting calm down, though he did look exhausted. Kitsune was just confused.

Finally Kitsune said thoughtfully, "…I don't like that guy."

Allen couldn't help but agree.

**Kit, babe. _No _one likes Lvellie.**

**What is it with me and updating? Actually, this is sort of an apology chapter for taking so long. Be happy I feel really bad about that. **

**I would respond to reviews, but there was a crapload (wow, I can't _believe _the response that last chapter got...) so I'll just say this now: I cannot answer any questions you have for me. You will just have to read the story. Everything will be explained with time. **

**Anyway, for those of you who may be wondering about the heart and Kitsune: I have an explanation. You aren't getting it right now. For those of you have questions about Kitsune's and Sasuke's memories: I know what I'm doing there, but you won't. One thing I will say is about why Lvellie is affecting Allen so badly: like I said in the previous chapter, Allen's new Innocence power allows him to have empathy with everyone else. Lvellie is the cause of a lot of suffering for a lot of people, and the stench clings to him. I can also explain why Lvellie is here...Kitsune's screwing with the time stream. Events are happening much quicker than the original time stream allowed for, and things will eventually go kablooey. Oops. Spoilers. Pretend I didn't say that. :) **

**And who are those strange three people? Well, you'll just have to find out.**

**BTW, with Lvellie's name...I kept finding different versions freaking _everywhere_, because his name has always confused me. I just chose the one that was on the wiki sight, but this might be wrong so DON'T GET MAD. **

**Oh, one review pretty much sums up what half of you said to me. Kenegi said, 'Wow it's been so damn long', to which my response is, 'You said it'. **

**I'm not quite sure about the end of this chapter...I feel like it's not as good as the rest of the chap. Ah well, I've posted worse. **

**Again: the _reviews _this time. Just...wow. 14. I was certain I was only going to get 3. Thank you so much everyone. **

**Silver Writing Bug**


	9. Chapter 8

**Disclaimer: I don't own D Gray man or Naruto. **

**[...]-a character is speaking in another language. In this chapter, it's in Japanese.**

Hebi hovered uncertainly outside the door to the nurse's wing, trying to decide what he should do.

_Let's be friends!_

Friends…visited each other in the hospital, didn't they? And Kitsune had _said _they were friends…unless he had been lying. But he had seemed so earnest when he spoke, and the look in his eyes…Hebi never had a friend before, though, if you didn't count Kanda. The rabbit was okay, but they never really saw each other, and Lenalee was…Hebi didn't know what to call her. Acquaintance? Maybe.

But Kitsune—he had called Hebi a friend.

He straightened, determination pooling in his dark, charcoal eyes. Kitsune was his _friend¸_ and _friends _visited each other when they were injured! (He thought that's what they did, anyway.)

With that thought, Hebi carefully opened the door and stepped inside, not sure what to expect, since he usually avoided the hospital wing like the plague. He vaguely recognized the white walls and the long line of beds…his eyes fell on one of them when he realized that two people were sitting on top of the pristine cotton sheets.

They appeared to be playing a game of poker; Hebi tilted his head as he watched them.

Kitsune lay down his hand, a smug grin on his face. "Royal straight flush." He said, folding his arms in front of his chest. "Beat that, nii-san. Oh wait! You can't."

A white haired man was sitting across from him, though Hebi couldn't see his face, since his back was to him. He was hunched over his cards, one hand up to his mouth, the other presumably holding his cards. After a second the old man sighed angrily and threw down the plastic squares, before speaking. "I don't understand how you manage to pull the best hands out of nowhere."

Wait, that didn't exactly sound like an old man. It sounded like…a teenager. Hebi slowly eased inside the room and shut the door behind him, not making a noise. He silently crept along the wall until he could see the side of the white-haired person's face, not listening to their conversation.

…that was way too young to be an old man. Actually, he was way too young to have white hair; his cheeks still had a bit of baby fat on them, and his silver eyes glittered with a sort of childish wonder than only a youth can have. He tilted his head curiously, furrowing his eyebrows in confusion.

He was so busy observing the strange man that he completely didn't notice Kitsune watching him unsurely; however he _did _notice it when Allen realized that his brother was no longer paying attention to the game and followed his gaze to Hebi, who immediately tensed. _Busted._

"Uh, Hebi…" Kitsune began, watching the raven-haired teen with cautious eyes. "What are you doing over there?"

Allen was still staring curiously at Hebi with an unnaturally piercing gaze, and it made the young teen twitch uncomfortably. He coughed lightly into his hand and tried to act as natural as possible, despite the fact that he'd sort of been creeping through their room. "I was just visiting you." He said, sticking his hands in his pockets and giving the blond a challenging glare. He silently praised himself for such a cool reaction.

Kitsune brightened considerably, though he still looked confused. "You…_do _realize that sneaking around is pretty weird, right? We're both pretty relaxed, it's not like we'd try to throw you out." He looked to his brother for confirmation, who smiled and nodded.

Hebi couldn't help the light pinking of his cheeks as embarrassment crept through him. "I knew that." He muttered, slowly approaching their bed, secretly taking another searching look at Kitsune's friend, curious about this strange whitette. Now that Hebi could see his face better, he was surprised by the long red scar daggering sharply down his pale face. _How odd. _

The teen noticed his look and his smile widened just a hint—though something cold crept into it, and Hebi unconsciously shivered. It was obvious there was more to this teen than a gentle face. "You know," He said politely. "It's rude to stare." It was obvious that he'd gotten a lot of odd looks before, and was tired of it.

"Sit down." Kitsune gestured towards an empty patch on his hospital bed, then laughed and reached out to noogie the whitette's head. "I promise nii-san won't bite!" Then he paused, tilting his head thoughtfully. "Actually, now that I think about it…"

Kitsune's big brother frowned and slapped his hand away, pouting. "That was _once. _And you wouldn't give me back my food! You had that coming!"

Hebi smiled slightly in amusement at their interactions, easing gently onto the bed. These two seemed like pretty nice people, if a bit odd. Suddenly he realized that he hadn't introduced himself to the older brother, and blinked. It'd been a long time since he'd simply _forgotten _about formalities…and it had been a long time since someone actually hadn't cared that he hadn't introduced himself. Usually whenever he met people, they demanded his name…after all, he was the Black Order's unique exorcist.

It was oddly…refreshing.

He suddenly realized that he hadn't been focusing on the conversation for a bit there, and paid attention again to see what was going on. The minute he did, his mouth nearly went slack jawed. He must have been _really_ out of it if he'd missed _this. _

The white-haired teen had Kitsune in a headlock, and was currently noogie-ing him with such force golden strands were beginning to rain down on the sheets. However not to be outdone, the blond was trying to bury his unusually large canines into his brother's forearm, snarling playfully.

"Um." Hebi said, unsure if he should break up their play fight or not.

"Hebi!"

The three of them froze, though the two brothers were much more comical than Hebi. Kit had managed to snag a piece of black cloth in his mouth, and the whitette still had his knuckles buried into his brother's thick hair. Hebi tilted his head when he heard the voice—what could Yu want with him right now?

"I'm in here!" He shouted back, not noticing when Kitsune and his older brother tensed.

Kanda sounded unusually annoyed—he'd probably been looking for Hebi for a while. "Where?"

"The nurses place!" Hebi tilted his head, listening for a response. As expected, he got none; his reply was the sound of stomping feet that got louder as Kanda approached. Suddenly the bed jerked under him, and Hebi had to steady himself so he wouldn't fall off. He glanced over at the two brothers to see what on earth they had been doing, when he realized that Kitsune was missing, and his brother was sitting there, smiling innocently.

"Um…" He looked around curiously for the blond, wondering where he had vanished off to. "Where's…?"

"Hiding from Kanda." The whitette's smile widened, and he stuck out his hand. "I don't believe I ever introduced myself, I'm sorry." Hebi took it hesitantly, giving the gloved appendage a light shake. "My name is Allen. And you?"

"Hebi." Their hands dropped back to their sides. "So why is Kitsune hiding?" The stomps were almost at the door.

Allen chuckled and scratched one side of his face. "Well, Kit and Kanda had a bit of a run in when we first came here…"

Hebi's eyebrows shot up. "A bit? I've never seen Yu so angry."

"Yu?" The whitette asked curiously, and it took a second for Hebi to realize that he'd referred to Kanda by his first name again. "I'm sorry, but I don't think we've seen each other—"

And then the door exploded open and Kanda Yu stomped into the room, looking absolutely furious. His hair was up in its usual ponytail, only it was much more messy than usual. Instead of Mugen in one hand, there was a training sword, which had Hebi confused—Kanda never let his precious sword go, not for anything. Why would he be using a training sword…?

Black, glaring eyes swept the room, hovering derisively over Allen for a second, before landing on Hebi. Kanda barked out an unusually harsh sentence, all in Japanese. _"[Where have you been, idiot]?"_

Affronted, Hebi straightened, responding similarly. Yeah, Kanda acted like an ass to the others, but usually Hebi was the exception—they had been practically inseparable when he was still learning English, and were now best friends. _"[I was visiting my friend in the hospital. What's the matter with you? Where's Mugen? Why are you so angry]?"_

"_[This is your friend]?" _Kanda sneered at Allen, taking him in, who seemed to realize he was under scrutiny and was staring at the older teen uncertainly. _"[He looks weak and stupid. Nothing but a beansprout]."_

Allen paused. His lips twitched, then turned into a cold, almost frightening smile. Both the Japanese teens froze when the whitette asked in heavily accented Japanese, _"[Should I leave]?" _

There was a quickly stifled snickering noise from underneath the bed. Hebi stiffened when he realized that it had to be Kitsune; if Kanda had heard, the blond was doomed.

The raven haired teen stopped moving and cocked his head, listening; it was obvious he _had_ heard something, but didn't know what. Allen seemed to realize this as well, and made the courageous decision to save his brother's ass. He slid off the bed and walked closer to Kanda until they were almost nose to nose, eyes narrowed. _"[I am not weak, and I am not a beansprout. You have made a mistake]." _

It was obvious that Japanese wasn't his first language, but it seemed that he understood well enough. Well enough to piss Kanda off, thoroughly distracting him from the odd noise. _"[You _are _weak]." _He growled. _"[You're going to die within the first weak, I just know it]." _The sword suddenly was whipped up to Allen's nose. _"[I still don't trust you, akuma]." _

The whitette stiffened, and switched to English. "Why are you so _angry?" _He asked, staring at Kanda with suddenly curious eyes, seemingly oblivious to the sharp edge just inches from his face. In fact, he slowly reached out and touched the blade, eyes glazing as he focused. Kanda seemed frozen in place, perhaps stunned by the sudden change in attitude, staring wide-eyed at Allen.

_What was Allen doing to him? _Hebi narrowed his eyes at the pair, before taking a deep breath and activating his Innocence. If the silverette was doing something to hurt Kanda, Hebi would _kill _him.

Hebi had a parasitic Innocence that was located in his eyes; when activated, they glowed an unnatural red, and had almost pinwheel-like black markings in them. Their ability was the power to look at an akuma and see how their attacks worked; not only that, but it also worked on Innocence's. That wasn't his eyes' only power—he could also tell where an attack was coming from—but he had to admit, it was only useful if he was faster than the attacker.

He sucked a tiny breath of air when he saw what was going on.

Allen's Innocence was centered around his arm—obviously a parasitic type, like him—and for the most part, the silver light glowed peacefully. However tiny strands of his Innocence were reaching out latching onto the people nearby—one disappeared under the bed, presumably connected to Kitsune, one was hovering maybe a centimeter above Hebi's chest. He curiously touched the tiny thread, then quickly withdrew when the tiny Innocence pulsed with a pure, probing, almost understanding feeling.

Several larger threads of the Innocence were curling around Kanda, wrapped lightly around his head, curling gently around his hands; they pulsed softly with red light. However it didn't seem at all harmful…why was it…?

Then, Hebi's eyes widened. He _knew _what those threads did—Allen's words suddenly made sense! The whitette was sensing their emotions. He'd never heard of an Innocence like that—it would be almost useless in battle.

Barely a second after Hebi deduced this, Kanda shook his head violently, Allen's Innocence disconnecting from him, floating aimlessly in the air. The whitette's face twisted slightly and one hand moved to touch his head, as though he had gotten a headache. Kanda shook his head again, glaring at the shorter teen angrily. "What the hell was that?"

"I-I don't know!" Allen seemed confused, and just a little scared now, and it suddenly occurred to Hebi that he might not actually know what his own Innocence did. "It—It was like with Lvellie, I just…" He grabbed onto his head, squeezing his eyes shut.

Kanda lunged forwards, catching Allen's collar with one hand, putting the sword up to his throat. The distraught teen winced, but did nothing to stop him. Hebi tensed forwards, realizing that he might have to step in—but his mind was racing. _What is Lvellie doing here?_ He thought desperately. _I haven't seen him…does that mean he doesn't want to talk to me at all…?_

Kanda seemed to echo his sentiments. "_Lvellie _was here? _When? Tell me!" _

And that's when Kitsune finally leapt up from under the bed and knocked away Kanda's sword, standing protectively in front of Allen, who still appeared to be in pain. "_Leave him alone! _Can't you see that he's in no shape to answer anything?"

Recognition flashed, and the raven haired teen turned on Kitsune, whirling his sword around to lop off the blonde's head, who barely ducked in time. Hebi let out a shout and lunged for Kanda, wrapping his arms around the raven-haired teen's shoulders. "You!" He shouted. "You were the bastard who broke Mugen!" He struggled violently, and Hebi was barely able to hold him back. _This guy broke Mugen…? _He was suddenly torn—should he let Kanda kill Kitsune for breaking his sword, or should he save his new friend? _"[Let me go, Hebi, I want to kill him]!" _

"_[You aren't thinking straight]!" _He shouted back—that much was true. He didn't want Kanda to do something he'd regret later. _"[Calm down]!" _

"_[Let him come]!" _Kitsune shouted, growling when Allen restrained him as well. Even so, his fists were half raised with an unspoken challenge. _"[Dammit Allen, he wants a fight, let us fight]!" _

Someone coughed.

The whole room froze, and simultaneously looked towards the door.

A tall man stood there, a box in one hand. He had long blond hair that was braided behind him, and two odd red spots had been painted on his forehead. He appeared to be wearing a brown military uniform, sharp green eyes glaring out beneath golden fringe. His posture was impeccable, and Hebi couldn't help but feel a little embarrassed of their childish squabbling in the presence of this man.

He released Kanda and stepped back, expressionless, which broke the stillness of the room. Kitsune slowly disentangled himself from Allen's restraining hold and stood straight, watching the blond with unreadable eyes. Kanda simply remained where he was, sword hanging loosely at one side. All in all, they made quite the intimidating picture, Hebi liked to think.

To his credit, he didn't even flinch. Instead, the man coughed into his hand again, and his searching eyes found Kitsune. There was a quick flicker up and down, which made Kitsune tense, before the taller man held out the box. "Hello. I am Link, from Central. I was ordered to watch you. I have made a cake for this occasion. I hope you enjoy it."

Kitsune's eyes widened and he opened his mouth, no doubt to ask why he was being watched, but Allen beat him to the punch. "Cake?" The whitette said happily, snatching up the box and peering inside. Link blinked in surprise, obviously not having expected the reaction, especially from the wrong person. "Oh boy, this looks delicious! Thank you very much!"

The blond teen relaxed, smiling fondly at his older brother. "Did you not hear anything else that he said?" He asked, amused.

Allen looked up curiously from his perusal of the cake. "Should I have?"

Any tension that had built up from the eerie statement from Link dissipated with that brief exchange, though Hebi still watched him suspiciously, as did Kanda. There was something off about that guy…even worse that he was from Central.

Kitsune hadn't forgotten about that, either. "So why _are _you watching me?" He folded his arms in front of his chest, while Allen started and looked sharply at his brother, then at Link.

The taller blond glanced from Kanda to Hebi to Allen, narrowing his eyes at the three. "I'm sorry, but this is sensitive information. I must discuss this alone."

Hebi was just fine, with this—after all, he and Kitsune _were _friends now, and friends told each other things, right?—but Kanda sent Link a livid glare. "I'm not going anywhere unless I decide to do so." He growled.

Allen raised his chin and stood his ground as well. "Kitsune is my brother." He said firmly. "I'm not going to leave him."

Link didn't outwardly react, but suddenly Allen recoiled slightly, which led Hebi to believe that the seemingly unflappable man had just released a wave of anger. Suddenly Hebi realized what a stupid idea it was to go against Central, especially since the European HQ was on such thin ice as it was. He shook off his pride and touched Kanda's elbow, not flinching when the raven-haired teen whirled on him angrily. "Kanda." He murmured, silently asking him to understand.

The samurai's eyes narrowed angrily—but his gaze softened slightly after a minute, and Hebi knew then that he understood. Kanda whipped away, stalking towards the door, Hebi trailing quietly behind him.

He gave Link one last glare, before carefully shutting the door behind him.

~WOBF~

"…so let me get this straight." Incredulity rushed through Kitsune as he stared at Link, trying to figure out what his game was. "You're stalking me because you guys want to know if I'm the Heart or not?"

"Not stalking." Link corrected emotionlessly. "Observing."

Before Kitsune could shrug and say okay, he was fine with this, Allen interrupted. "And what will happen if he _is_ the heart?"

The younger blond blinked and glanced at his brother, glad he had spoken up. Allen always thought ahead—that was why he was considered the older brother. He had looked out for Kitsune even before Mana had died, and was the most responsible.

Link obviously had anticipated this question, because he barely paused. "You will be taken back to Central, to be trained for use on the battlefield."

Kitsune's mouth dropped—they would just take him from the Black Order? Anger began to pool in his gut—he wasn't just some mindless dog to be ordered around. He was a human being, dammit!

Allen stood up before he could react, voicing his brother's thoughts; there was a low, cold fury in his usual gentle voice. "You can't do that."

He rose as well, a little irked that Allen was essentially defending him when he could speak just fine. Kitsune knew that he could handle himself.

Link also lifted himself from his seat so he was staring down the two teens, glaring coldly at the pair of them. "We are the Central government. You are just a tool for our use. We will do whatever it takes to win the war against the Millennium Earl."

The silverette's face twisted into an angry snarl. "Don't—"

"Allen." Kitsune said quietly, touching his brother on the arm. Allen looked at him in surprise, before realizing what was wrong and clamping his mouth shut. He _knew _that Kitsune hated it when he defended him—Allen had been told this several times. Allen himself didn't like it very much either—the only reason Kitsune had defended him earlier was because the silverette seemed to be emotionally unstable, and hadn't been able to lift a finger in his own defense.

Understanding passed. Allen fell silent, his lips clamped shut as he allowed Kitsune to take control of the situation.

"I'm not your property." He said firmly to Link, with a calm that he didn't quite feel. "If I want to, I'll go to Central. I _chose _to fight in the war." Kitsune dropped his voice; the room temperature dropped along with it. "You need me more than I need you."

There was a long, deadly silence. Link opened his mouth to speak, obviously with some dangerous threat to him—

There was a loud rumble. Link and Kitsune glanced over at Allen in surprise as he grabbed his stomach, a sheepish expression on his face.

"So," He chuckled nervously. "How about some of that cake?"

~BOWF~

"Man, what a drag." Lavi leaned back in his seat, arms folded behind his head. "Why do we have to come all the way out here? We had work to do. We were busy."

"Idiot apprentice." The Bookman snorted, not looking up from the parchment he was reading. "You felt that as well, didn't you? Something has obviously happened, and it's our duty to record the events that follow."

The red-head sighed and turned over, careful not to rock the boat too much lest he get hit over the head with another book. "Yeah, I know that." He grumbled, eyeing a nearby water vessel—the two Bookmen had their own boat, due to the fact that they carried around a lot of sensitive material. Suddenly he recognized the uniform, and pushed himself up onto his hands. "Hey, is that…?"

Bookman looked up to see what Lavi had spotted, before folding up the parchment and nodding. "Ah, so you've spotted them. Yes, that group was stationed in Russia. Look closely, Lavi, you're seeing something that has only happened once before in the history of the war."

He turned to look at the old man. "What's that?"

"The exorcists of the world all felt their Innocence's resonate in tandem; for a single moment, they all felt a connection to the Black Order's European HQ, just as we did." Bookman's eyes became far away as he remembered. "All the exorcists, all over the world, are coming to this place. For the second time in history, every exorcist will meet in this place…and swear their allegiance to the Heart."

**Dun dun duuuuuun…! Link has entered. Lavi and Bookman are about to enter. Allen, Kitsune, Hebi, and Kanda feel tension. SHIT'S GOING DOWN. Now, time for question corner, where I, with the help of Allen and Kitsune, answer a few popular questions from the reviewers!**

**Q: How will the Kyuubi's chakra affect the Heart?**

A: That's kind of an integral part of the story. I can't answer that.

K: I wasn't made aware of this! Why's it an integral part of the story?

A: Aaaw, poor baby. We never tell you anything.

K: Shut up, just shut up! What are you plan—

A: Next question!

**Q: Will Kitsune and Hebi ever get their memories back?**

A: Oh. My. God. Will you guys cut it out with the major spoilers?

K: Even I have to agree with you on that one. Actually, though, would you do me a favor and tell me? After all, this does affect me personally—

A: For the thousandth time, no!

K: But—

A: I will gut you like a fish.

K:…Cross is rubbing off on you.

A: W-What? No he's not! That's ridiculous!

K: Oh, oh yes he is. Sorry darling. Are you sure you're not Cross's kid?

A: Next question!

**Q: Can Kitsune get together with Sakura/Lenalee/random women? **

K: Er, no. Thanks, but I've got enough women back home. Plus, my inner chivalrous side would feel like a total man whore if I went for anyone in D Gray Man. Well, I may not be able to remember the other women I've got, but my subconscious gentleman remembers it. Sakura's staying right where she is too, so I can't get with her, either.

A: *snickers*

K: Oh would you shut up?

A: 'Inner chivalrous side'. 'Subconscious gentleman'. So you finally admit that you have no conscious manners?

K: THAT IS SO NOT TRUE. I've got an outward gentleman, too. But yeah. In this story as far as I'm aware, I'm not going to get together with anyone. Thank goodness Silver forgot most of the challenge, otherwise I actually would probably have to end up with someone.

**Q: Hey, side question: are you and Allen going to get together? You two are pretty close for being just brothers…**

K: Okay, if Allen wasn't my brother, and if I wasn't straight, then yeah, maybe I would date him.

A: Watch it.

K: Oh come on! You're pretty enough to be a girl. Remember that one time I tried to get you to marry me because I thought you were a chick?

A: I would rather forget that.

K: He's blushing. Haha.

A: Besides, the challenge stated that I'm supposed to get together with Lenalee at some point. GREAT JOB AT THAT BY THE WAY, Silver.

**Silver Writing Bug: Okay, okay, I get it. More romancey stuff between Lenalee and Allen. Besides, everyone knows that Sasuke and Naruto have got the biggest man crushes on each other EVER. **

K: W-What?!

**S: I mean, come on. All Sasuke can think about is defeating Naruto—it's an obsession! Plus, Naruto is obviously in denial. He throws himself at Sakura, but he goes on and on about saving Sasuke, blah-de-blah-de-blah. **

K: …*speechless*

A: _Ahahahahahahahahahaha!_

**And that's the end of question corner! Next time I have one, I'll probably use Hebi and Kanda. So remember to submit your questions! Now for the real AN.**

**Okay, so I finally went through all the reviews I got for chapter 6—you know the one where I went AWOL and stopped updating for a year. And it's like, holy crap, why did I stop writing this? I think it's because the email I was using for my account crapped out, so I wasn't able to see when I was getting reviews, which is bad in retrospect…**

**Anyway, so the response I got was great for the last chapter! Several people showed strong dislike for Lvellie…if anyone's wondering, he packed up and went back home to Central. He's a busy guy—he was just there to check out the potential Heart and to drop off Link. Thanks for all the reviews! (Oh, Begger-At-Heart. Take a chill pill man, and be patient. No need to beg. Updates will come.) **

**Oh, and if you're still wondering who those guys from last chapter were—yeah, they're exorcists from Italy. :)**

**Sorry if Sasuke/Hebi seems a little OOC in this fic…he's just grown up in a much different environment than he did in the Naruto-verse. Plus, don't worry; Allen won't always be this out of it. He's still getting used to his new Innocence; because he can't control it yet, he's sort of catching every emotion that comes at him. **

**(I don't know if anyone noticed this, but I have two different types of page breaks. That was actually completely on accident. It's because I momentarily forgot the title of this story and was like, 'WTH, I don't even care.')**

**I'm a little hesitant on what I should do about Sasuke's seal from Orochimaru. I was actually entertaining a little idea about the snake bastard, which would allow me to drag a whole bunch of other Naruto characters in, but I'm not sure if that's a good plan. I can't give away too many details, but the bottom idea: Orochimaru would ***** ****** ******* *** ****, he would join the Earl, and a few other Naruto characters would *** ******** ** **** ***. Your opinion?**

…**yeah, I need a Beta to bounce ideas off of. This is getting kind of pathetic. **

**A little spoiler on what's coming next, anyone?**

Allen shook the strange boy's hand, a little wary of his unusual attitude. How could anyone this exuberant have any part in the war? Especially that bright, red hair… "Uh…hi. I'm Allen Walker."

"Lavi Bookman." The redhead smiled and pumped the gloved appendage, nearly crushing Allen's fingers. "Your brother seems to be quite the star. Is there any way I could meet him?"

Feeling a little _too _used of the casual dismissal, Allen shook his head firmly. "I'm sorry, but my brother is still recovering from his injuries. He needs to sleep." It had taken nearly ten minutes for the whitette to convince Kitsune that he was tired—it had always been that way, and had only gotten worse as time passed. However today he had seemed unusually complacent, the day's events catching up with him, plus the exhaustion from yesterday's battle.

"Hm, that's too bad." Lavi scratched his chin, though he didn't sound that disappointed. "Do you mind if you answer a few questions instead?"

Allen nibbled his lip unsurely, considering. What was the worst that could happen?

After all, it was just a couple of questions.

**Oh Allen, it's never just a couple of questions. And one more, just to piss all of you off. **

"_What is this place?" Kitsune breathed, staring in shock at the tall bars in front of him. It was so…familiar…_

_Perhaps it was instinct. Perhaps it was good reflexes—or maybe Lady Luck had smiled down upon him once more. Whatever it was, it allowed him to dodge the enormous claws that slammed just inches from where he'd standing._

_A chill ran up his spine as the claws slowly retreated, rubbing against the bars with an unearthly shriek. His legs began to tremble with terror as an enormous eye appeared behind the metal, staring down at him almost as though he were prey. Kitsune couldn't help but fall backwards when he heard a something low and deadly clattering around the chamber, echoing off the walls—oh God, what was that noise?_

_His heart stopped when he realized what it was—the thing in front of him…it was laughing. _

… **:D **

**Okay, I'm going to run and hide now. **

**Silver Writing Bug**

**P.S. In which your beloved author is the biggest fucking idiot on the entire planet.**

**Okay, so your beloved author, now renamed biggest fucking idiot ever, was all excited about this new chapter, because it was long and it had a funny part and HELL YEAH. What biggest fucking idiot ever had forgotten was that she'd gotten a new email address. Why? Because, as mentioned before, she couldn't get into the email address she'd been using for the last four years. Yeah it was still active, but she couldn't see what the fuck was going on with fanfiction. So what did biggest fucking idiot ever do? Yeah, she did something sort of smart. She created a new email address, and replaced it with the old one. **

**Problem: Biggest fucking idiot ever has shit for brains and forgot the username **_**and **_**the password to her new email. **

**So now biggest fucking idiot ever is going to go die in a corner. **

**P.P.S. NEVER MIND. I AM NOW A GENIUS. I MANAGED TO FIGURE IT OUT. HOLY HELL THAT WAS ABSOLUTELY TERRIFYING. **


	10. OOPS HAHA

HEY SO GUYS.

Shit for brains did it again.

I put my password onto a sticky note so I wouldn't forget about it, and then of course my computer died and I lost the sticky note. And I couldn't remember the password AT ALL, so life SUCKED. But then, not too long ago, fireicesky found my on my other account, and reminded me of this account, and I thought I'd look for the password one more time, though I doubted I'd find it.

And then I opened sticky notes again, to write down birthday presents for my dad, and LO AND BEHOLD, the sticky note had saved itself. I now have my password again. Like so many other things in life, I got my password back, after about seven months, through SHEER DUMB LUCK.

And now I'm baaaack, and hopefully will be updating within the next month. Sorry for the wait I put everyone through! All your reviews were awesome! Oh, and if you like Hetalia, or if I suddenly stop updating, check out IceEckos12. That's my alternate account. I'm not adverse to people poking me into action.

Silver Writing Bug


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